
dass_l 

Book. '1 



/ 



/Ifcunsells 
Historical Series. 

no. t7. 






) it 

THE 



OHIO VALLEY 



IN 



COLONIAL DAYS. 



BERTHOLD FERNOW, 

Honorary and Corresponding Member of the Historical Societies of New York, New 

Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Bujfalo and Waterloo; Member of the Am. 

Historical Association; late Custodian of the State Archives, 

and Assistant State Librarian at Albany, N. Y. 




ALBA NY, 'N. Y.: 

JOEL MUNSELL'S SONS, PUBLISHERS. 
1890. 



C^R» 



fS^ 



PREFACE. 



A reviewer of "The Family: An Historical and 
Social Study," published a few years ago, criticised 
this volume in the following words: " Perhaps the 
greatest lack of this book is a preface, for the merit 
of a compilation of this sort depends upon the end 
aimed at and the method followed." 

The writer of the following pages desires to obvi- 
ate such criticisms and to assist the above reviewer in 
what is evidently his practice of reviewing, namely 
to depend on the preface for his idea of the book. 

The history of all ages and of all nations offers 
the most abundant sources for romancing, and 
many an historian has paid more attention to the 
picturesque and romantic sides of the questions be- 
fore him, than to the bare matter of fact. Prescott's 
"Conquest of Mexico," Abbot's "History of Napo- 
leon," are delightful reading for everybody, but also 
most unfaithful guides to the earnest historian. 

Another stumbling block for the historical writer 
is to look upon events, occurred in past ages, with 
the eyes of to-day, and thus to impute to the actors 
in these events motives, which must remain hidden 



6 Preface. 

and cannot be understood, unless brought to cotem- 
poraneous light by the actors themselves. 

The writer of this volume has tried to avoid both, 
Scylla and Charybdis, and has at the same time 
taken care, not to become a mere annalist. How 
far he has succeeded, the reader must judge. 

It is perhaps proper, that a citizen of New York 
should write of the Ohio Valley, because by the trea- 
ties of 1 701, 1726 and 1768, made on New York 
territory and by New York influences, the former 
owners of the Ohio territory, the aboriginal rulers 
of the eastern half of this continent, placed the 
largest share of their country under the protection 
of New York, and because the latter State made a 
union of the Colonies possible, by ceding to New 
England claimants — claimants under Royal paper 
titles — so much of the territory, derived from the 
original owners. 

The student of American history will find some 
hitherto unpublished and unknown material in this 
volume ; beyond that it is only an arrangement of 
already known facts, scattered through a library of 
books on the subject. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE. 

Chapter I. Discovery 9 

II. Geographical Knowledge 17 

III. The Indians of the Ohio Valley 30 

IV. The Beginning of the Struggle for 

Supremacy 60 

V. The Contest Transferred to the Ohio 

Valley 83 

VI. The French Masters of the Ohio Val- 
ley 134 

VII. The Flag of St. George Floats again 

over the Valley 150 

VIII. Indian Wars 165 

IX. North and West of the Ohio 173 

X. South of the Ohio 185 

Appendix 217 



CHAPTER I. 



DISCOVERY. 



Who was the first man of European race, to see 
the waters of the Ohio Valley ? 

Was it Ferdinand de Soto, the Adelantado of 
Cuba, upon whom Emperor Charles V, had conferred 
the title of Marquis of all the lands, which he should 
conquer on his expedition to Florida in 1539 ? Luis 
Hernandez de Biedma, who accompanied this expe- 
dition, tells us, that after marching about in what 
are now the States of Florida, Georgia and Alabama, 
for eighteen months, the explorers found themselves 
in November, 1540, in the Province of Chicaza, or 
Chicaca, where they suffered extremely from the 
cold, and where "more snow falls than in Spain." 
According to a map of Carolana,* Chicazas was an 
Indian village on the Casqui or Cusates river, and if 
the Indian tribe of the Chickasaws had not moved 
their habitations since De Soto's visit, we must 
assume, that this expeditionary force of 1539 were 
the first Europeans, who entered the valley of Ohio, 
as they were the first to see the Mississippi. In 
the same account we find a river mentioned under 

*In Daniel Coxe's Description of the English Province of Carolana, 
London, 1722. 



io The Ohio Valley 

the name of Sasquechana ; is the Susquehannah 
meant ? 

De Witt Clinton said, in a paper on the Ohio In- 
dians, that De Soto and his army built forts at the 
mouth of the Muskingum. What was his authority 
for this statement ? 

In 1568, Sir John Hawkins left England with a 
squadron of ships on an errand, which to-day might 
be considered piracy and high-handed robbery. He 
expected, to make himself a rich man by pillaging 
Spanish settlements in Central America. Occur- 
rences, which it is not necessary to detail here, com- 
pelled him to put part of his crew ashore, probably 
within the limits of modern Nicaragua. Some of 
these sailors made their way across the North Ameri- 
can continent to within fifty miles of Cape Breton, 
where a French fishing vessel picked them up and 
carried them home to England. Did they enter the 
valley of the Ohio? We may suppose so. The 
story of their wanderings, as told to " Sir Francis 
Walsingham, one of her Majesty's (Queen Elizabeth) 
principal Secretaries, Sir George Peckham and others 
of good judgment" in 1582, hardly mentions any 
locality, by the peculiarities of which their route 
might be traced, except the Crystal mountain, now 
Mount Washington, in New Hampshire, until they 
came to Ochala and the Saganas.* 

Of the few Indian words, given in the recital, it 
is possible to identify only one. Ingram, one of the 

* Probably Hochelaga, now Montreal, and the Saguanah or Saguenais river. 



In Colonial Days. \ \ 

sailors, tells, that the Indians called the sun — 
Kerucca; the Onondaga Dictionary of Father 
Bruyas,* missionary among this tribe about 1688, 
gives the Onondaga word for sun as " Garrakoua." 
Garricona, Ingram's Indian word for king, may be 
the same as the Iroquois Corachkoo, great chief, but 
it is also similar to the Ouappas Indians (Arkan- 
sas) word Karikeh, king. 

An essay on the tale of this trampf says: "It 
would appear, that he (Ingram and his two compan- 
ions), left the border of Texas and started for the 
Atlantic coast (presumably due east), where he 
hoped, to find some English vessel. He appears to 
have reached or have heard of, the Altamaha, in 
Georgia and kept on north-easterly, passing through 
the present territory of New York, Connecticut and 
Massachusetts." If the travellers had reached the 
shores of the Atlantic ocean as far south as Georo-ia 
or even farther north, why then should they have 
again gone inland as far as Hochelaga and the 
Saguenay? The mention of these Indian names, 
already known since the middle of the sixteenth cen- 
tury, seem to indicate, that Ingram had some idea, 
of where on the continent, with the dimensions of 
which he had probably become acquainted during 
his life at sea, a chance for a return to England 
might be found ; that therefore these men started on 
their weary tramp in a direction north-east by east 

* Published by J. G. Shea, 1859. 
fMag. of Am. History, March, 1883. 



12 The Ohio Valley 

and thus crossed somewhere the waters of the Ohio 
Valley. 

Domine Johannis Megapolensis, the first Christian 
minister at Albany, N. Y., wrote to his ecclesiastical 
superiors, the Classis of Amsterdam in Holland, on 
the 28th of September, 1658:* " Le Moynef told me 
that during his residence among the Indians, he had 
found a salt spring about 100 (Dutch) miles from 
the sea.J * * * Also another spring, from which 
oil issued, at least water, upon which oily matter 
floats, used by the Indians to grease their hair." 

Was this the first discovery of Oil creek in Alle- 
gany county, N. Y., which makes its way into the 
Ohio, passing through one or two Pennsylvania 
counties, and must we allow the honor of having 
also discovered the waters of the Ohio Valley to Le 
Moyne, or did the Jesuit refer to oil, found on the 
waters of Seneca lake ? 

Champlain gave to the world the first positive 
information concerning the great inland sea, which 
though not belonging to the Ohio Valley, borders it 
on the north. He saw its neighbor, Lake Ontario, 
and received, in 161 5, his knowledge of Lake Erie 
from Etienne Brule, a traveller on its waters or 
along its shores. But Champlain's map of 1632 has 
nothing to say of the Ohio river, of which neither 
Etienne Brule nor any of the coureurs des bois 

*Amsterdam Correspondence, MSS. in the possession of the Genl. Synod 
of the Reformed Church, 
f A French Jesuit, a missionary among the Onondaga and Seneca Indians. 
% Onondaga Co., N. Y. 



In Colonial Days. 13 

after him seemed to have heard any thing, although 
like the Jesuits they penetrated west beyond Lake 
Erie. Here we recognize the fingers of the Five 
Nations in the pie of colonial Indian policy. French- 
men, knowing of the tribes south of the lakes, had 
to go, if they wanted to trade with them, by the 
so-called Ottawa route, because the Iroquois hated 
the French and would only in exceptional cases 
allow them to enter into, but not pass through their 
territory. Nearly half a century had passed after 
Brule's discovery of Lake Erie, when a French 
missionary was told, in 1663, of a river nearly as 
large as the St. Lawrence, taking its course south- 
west and west. A few years later Dallier, another 
missionary, received also some vague information 
concerning this western river, which, after having fol- 
lowed it for seven to eight months, would bring the 
traveller to a place where the land was cut off, that is, 
where the river fell into the sea. Dallier's inform- 
ants called this river the " Ohio."* The Delawares 
called it Alliwegi Sipee, that is the river of the 
Alliwegi, hence our modern Allegany. Many Indian 
tribes were said to live on this river, none of whom 
had ever been seen in Canada, and some of them 
were so numerous, that they had twenty villages. 
These reports inflamed the adventurous spirit of 
Robert Cavelier de la Salle and inspired him with a 
desire to discover a new route to the So uth sea or 

~ *According to Bruvas this is a Mohawk word and means ''Beautiful 
River;" Bruyas says Io in composition expresses the beauty of the object. 



i4 The Ohio / 'alley 

the Pacific ocean. He obtained from the governor 

of Canada nor only liberty to go on this venturesome 
journey, but also a patent authorizing him. to make 
all kinds of discoveries and soldiers to assist him. 
Fathers Dallier and Gallinee were sent with him. 
and on the ;th of July. iooq. the travellers started 
from La Salle's seisrneurie of La Chine. After 

O 

thirty days of toiling up the St. Lawrence and 
breasting the waves of Lake Ontario, they reached 
the Seneca village on the Genesee river, where they 
hoped to obtain guides, who could lead them to the 
Ohio. They learned, that the head-waters of the 
river were not far. but instigated, it is suspected, by 
the [esuit. Pere Fremin, stationed there, the Senecas 
tried to dissuade La Salle and his companions, the 
missionaries of the Sulpitian order, from the journey 
because, they said, "if you go to the Ohio, the In- 
dians there will kill you." After a tedious delay of 
a whole month, a Ganastogue Indian from near the 
head of Lake Ontario, ottered to help them and con- 
ducted the party to his village, where they were 
given two Indian slaves as guides. La Salle re- 
ceived a Chaouanon (Shawanoe), the other, who fell 
to the Sulpitians, was a Nez Perce. These guides 
told, that it would take a march of one and a half 
months to reach the first tribe on the Ohio. While 
preparing to start, a countryman of the travellers 
arrived at the same village. It was Joliet, a native 
of Canada, who had originally been destined for the 
church, but who driven by a restless spirit to adopt 



In Colonial Days. 1 5 

the life of a coureur des bois and Indian trader was 
now returning from a western journey, made to dis- 
cover the copper mines on Lake Superior. He told 
of a tribe of Poutaouatamies, living on the great 
river, leading to the Chaouanons, and this induced 
the Sulpitians, who probably mistook them for Out- 
aouacs, to decide that they would go there and try 
to convert them. After spending the fall and winter 
at Long Point, during which time, in October, 1669, 
they took formal possession, in the name of Louis 
XIV, of the lands on Lake Erie, they continued 
their journey along the north side of the lake, but 
while camping at Point Pelee, the lake robbed 
them of their altar service, and they decided to 
make their way home, via Detroit and the Ottawa 
river and to leave the Potawatomies to wallow in 
spiritual darkness a little longer. 

La Salle, who had been ill or feigned illness, when 
the Sulpitian brothers left him, continued his journey 
to Onondaga, New York., and finding a guide there 
soon after, embarked with his party on the Allegany 
branch of the Ohio, which river he descended as far 
as the falls at Louisville. Here his men deserted 
him and he was compelled to make his way back 
to Canada all by himself. A biped of the genus 
tramp of to-day would perhaps not consider such 
a march a very great undertaking, but as may be 
imagined, it was a very different thing two hun- 
dred years ago, when there were no roads or rail- 
way tracks to follow, no hen-roosts to visit, no farm- 



1 6 The Ohio Valley In Colonial Days. 

er's wife to frighten into the dispensation of a boun- 
tiful meal. 

We derive very little information through La 
Salle, concerning the river Ohio or the country, 
through which he travelled, beyond the fact that he 
discovered the river and was the first white man who 
undoubtedly traversed the present State of Ohio. 
(See Appendix A.) Two years later, in 1671, Gen- 
eral Wood of Virginia was attacked by the discover- 
ing fever. Not that he went himself and like La 
Salle braved the terrors of an unknown wilderness ; 
the dignity of his exalted position as Major-General 
probably forbade that,- — but he sent others to do the 
discovering for him, whose journal and remarks are 
given in the Appendix B.* These adventurers, sent 
out by General Wood, did not reach the Ohio, but 
came to several of its tributaries and were thus the 
first white men to visit Eastern Kentucky and Ten- 
nessee. 

*This paper and the one in App. C, are in the Sparks Collection of Har- 
vard College Library; copies of them were kindly furnished by J. Winsor, 
Esq. 



CHAPTER II. 

GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE. 

These were the first information of and explora- 
tions into the valley of the Ohio. Notwithstanding 
the claim made by Dr. Mitchell (see Appendix C*), we 
must apparently concede the honor of first discovery 
to a Frenchman, although Wytfliet's map of "Florida 
et Apalche/'f shows us a river starting under 40 
North Latitude and 293 East Longitude, which 
after a mainly south-west course, empties into the 
Santo Spirito or Mississippi, under 35° North Lati- 
tude and 284 East Longitude, with two branches, 
while a third branch goes directly into the Gulf of 
Mexico. This nameless river receives a tributary 
from the south-east. Is the main stream meant for 
the Ohio and the tributary for the Great Kanawha ? 
Then we must ask, whence did Wytfliet derive his 
information ? From Biedmas' account ? 

Another Frenchman, Joliet, is the first to give us 
the name on his map of 1673-4; he tells us that the 
Ohio was then called Ouabouskigon, whence prob- 
ably is derived the name later given to it, of Wabash. 

* See note on preceeding page concerning Appendix B. 
fAcosta, Cologne Edition of 1598. 

3 



1 8 The Ohio Valley 

On his larger map of 1674, he describes the river as 
" la route du Sieur de la Salle pour aller dans le 
Mexique" (the route taken by Sieur de la Salle to 
go to Mexico), without giving it a name. A map 
without title or maker's name, number three in Mr. 
Parkman's collection and probably belonging to the 
time, when little was as yet known of the newly dis- 
covered river and territory, calls it "la Riviere. Ohio, 
ainsi appellee par les Iroquois k cause de sa beaute, 
par ou le Sr. de la Salle est descendu," but places it 
in some parts almost parallel to and within a short 
distance of Lake Erie. 

The jealousy with which the various discoverers 
and their friends looked upon each other, is well 
shown by a map, entitled "Carte de la nouvelle de- 
couverte que les Peres Jesuites ont fait en l'annee 
1672," etc., which shows us nearly the whole course 
of the " Mitchisipi," of its tributaries, the Illinois, the 
Wisconsin on the east side and several large rivers 
on the west side, as the Missouri and the Arkansas, 
but not the faintest indication of the Ohio river. 
The next cartographer, probably Franquelin, in his 
" Carte de l'Amerique Septentrionale et partie de la 
Meridionale" of 1682 restores the Ohio to its place, 
but again too near Lake Erie. On his map of 1684 
the river is not only in a fairly correct place, but is 
also given various tributaries without names. Some 
of these he had learned when he made his map of 
1688, for by that he tells us of the Ohio or Belle 
Riviere and calls a tributary coming from the east 



In Colonial Days. 19 

the Ohoio, while the Riviere Ouabache has for its 
tributary the R. Oiapigaming ( ). Father Raffeix, 
S. J., has not yet learned in 1688, that other streams 
empty into the Ohio, but he gives us the first carto- 
graphical information of the " Petit Sault," the 
rapids near Louisville, Kentucky. A map of the 
same year, 1 688, called " Partie occidentale du Canada 
ou de la Nouvelle France , oil sont les Nations des 
Ilinois, de Tracy, les Iroquois, etc., avec la Louisiane, 
nouvellement decouverte * * * par le P. Coro- 
nelli, Cosmographe de la Ser me Republic de Venise," 
has the Riviere Ouabache without tributaries. 

Raudin, Frontenac's engineer, again ignores the 
Ohio, while a map made three years before in 1685 
by Minet, "la Carte de la Louisiane" has the river 
in its full length, though without most of its tribu- 
taries and calling it in its middle course Ouabache, 
which name is changed in the lower to "le Chou- 
cagoua." 

The Hennepin map of 1697 has again the Ohio or 
Ouye without tributaries, running almost completely 
in the direction of its degree of latitude and parallel 
to and between two ranges of mountains, the Mons 
Apalach on the south and an unnamed range on the 
north. 

A map in the Parkman collection, without date 
or title, of which we find a sketch in Mr. Winsor's 
Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. IV, 
p. 206, and which Mr. Parkman considers the work 
of the Jesuits and " the earliest representation of the 



20 The Ohio Valley 

upper Mississippi, based perhaps on the reports of 
the Indians" shows in a fairly correct location for 
the Ohio river a stream, called Chaboussioua. 

Mr. Bellin, Ingenieurdu Roi et de la Marine, pub- 
lished, also in 1755, two maps, which must find a 
place here. The "Carte de l'Amerique Septentrio- 
nale" informs us of the location of Joncaire's fort a 
little below Venango, near the mouth of French 
creek. Another French post is on the Chiningue 
R. A settlement, called "le Baril" is mentioned as 
at the mouth of White Woman's creek and La Da- 
moiselle, another settlement or Indian village, is on 
the creek of that name. Ouitanon, a French fort, 
is on the Ouabache or S l Jerome about midway from 
its mouth, and at its mouth we have Fort Anne or Fort 
Vincene. The embouchure of the Cherakee R. is 
guarded by another French fort, " commence depuis 
longtemps " and at its head we find Ouanese, an Eng- 
lish post. Walker's settlement at the head of the 
" Old Chaouanon " is marked as destroyed. His 
other map of the same year, " Partie Occidentale de 
la Nouvelle France" is here mentioned only because 
according to it, the south shore of Lake Erie " is al- 
most unknown." 

The dedication to " Monseigneur le Comte d'Ar- 
genson, Secretaire pour le Departement de la Guerre," 
which position he filled from 1743 to 1757, gives us 
an approximate date of a map by Robert de Vau- 
gondy fils, Geographer to the King up to 1 760, en- 
titled " Carte des Pays connus sous le nom de Canada 



In Colonial Days. 21 

au Nouvelle France." It adds nothing that we do 
not find upon other French maps. 

Two other maps must be mentioned on behalf of 
French geographical knowledge, although it is pos- 
sible that English maps or information, derived from 
English sources, guided the cartographer. Both 
were published at Amsterdam in Holland without 

date. 

The first one has the title : " Carte de la Nouvelle 
France, etc., etc., Amsterdam chez la veuve de Jo. 
Van Keulen et Fils." The river Ouabache, Orabac, 
• autrement nommee Ohio ou belle Riviere (other- 
wise called the Ohio or Beautiful river) comes from 
the Onondaga country. It has an affluent, rising 
not many miles south of its own source and running 
almost parallel to it, until the two rivers join, which 
is called Riviere d'Oubache or Akansea Septentrio- 
nale. This is stated as being on the route taken by 
the French, when they go to Carolina. On the 
Coskinampo branch of this tributary live the Chic- 
achas, Taogarias, Coskinampos and Chaouanons. 
The upper course of this Akansea is called Riviere 
d'Ohio or Acansea Sipi. Some fifty miles from its 
junction with the Mississippi we find the legend : 
Chaouanon Mines of Iron in English and at the 
mouth of a tributary coming from the north, the R. 
Wabashe, is a fort. 

The second of these undated maps is the " Carte 
Nouvelle de l'Amerique Angloise * * * par le 
Sieur S., Amsterdam chez Pierre Mortier. Accord- 



22 The Ohio Valley 

ing to it the Ohio, which is not named, rises in the 
longitude of the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. 
A tributary coming from the south-east is called 
Sabsquigs and it mentions the mines of iron of the 
preceding map. Several legends show the English 
origin in their Anglicized French, as Perres San- 
guines, Fort des mi Amis. 

William Smith, the historian of New York, de- 
plores in his work the ignorance of his countrymen, 
the English, in regard to American geography. A 
recent writer, Charles Dudley Warner, says of it in 
a happy, terse way : " Ignorance of America is 
taught in English schools." 

Apparently the earliest English map, which gives 
information to the geographical student in Great 
Britain, of Lake Erie is " A New Map of the English 
Plantations in America," etc., by Robert Morden, 
London, without date. The same Morden pub- 
lished a map of Carolina in 1687 and a map, which 
will be mentioned hereafter, with Herman Moll 
about 1 715. This gives us an approximate date for 
his above-named production, of which nothing more 
need be said, than that Felis Lake (Lake Erie) 
would be divided according to it by the extension, 
due west, of the boundary line between Maryland 
and Virginia. 

The same geographer published a " Geography of 
the World." The copy which the writer of this 
chapter has consulted, is without title page, but a 
passage in the account of New York, reading " pre- 



In Colonial Days. 23 

sented by the late King to the present King James 
the Second," tells us, that the book in question must 
have been published before 1689. A map of Florida 
shows the Ohio, without name, and the Illinovik 
rivers entering the Mississippi. The Ohio rises not 
far from the head of a river, going into Lake Michi- 
gan from the south-east. In the account accompany- 
ing this map nothing is said about the rivers empty- 
ing into the Mississippi, which is called the Holy 
Ghost river. 

Morden and Moll's map of 1 715 " The Seat of War 
in the West Indies, etc., together with the adjacent 
Dominions " represents only the lower half of the 
" Ochio or Belle R., which empties into the Miss- 
issippi in two branches. Near the mouth of the north- 
ern branch we find the " Port des Anguilles." 

Edward Wells, M. A. and Student at Christ 
Church, Oxford, attempted in 1701 to enlighten his 
countrymen by a " New Set of Maps * * * ," one 
of which is a map of North America. The Hotico 
river, as he calls the Ohio, runs almost parallel to 
its degree of latitude, breaking through the chain of 
the Apalachia Mountains, which extend from the 
south-western end of Lake Erie to the mouth of the 
Illinois river and thence into unknown resfions. 
"A New Map of the most Considerable Plantations 
of the English in America" in the same "Set 
of Maps" does not go far enough west to give the 
Ohio. 

Christophori Cellarii, Smalcaldensis, Geographia 



24 The Ohio Valley 

Antiqua is the work of a German scholar, but hav- 
ing been published at London in 1 731, it must be 
classed among the English geographical sources of 
information. A map in it of the whole American 
Continent has the course of the Ohio fairly correct, 
without giving its name. 

"A New Map of America according to the Best 
and Latest Observations" by Henry Overton, with- 
out date, belongs to the period, when the English 
evidently had but little knowledge of this Continent. 
It is dedicated to Queen Caroline, wife of George I, 
who died in 1 738, and this dedication gives us a clue 
to the time of its production. Lakes Huron, Ontarius 
and Erius are placed one south of the other, the 
Ohio is not known and the Mississippi empties into 
the Gulf of Mexico, after having traversed about 60 
miles. 

H. O. dedicates his " New and Correct Map of the 
Trading Part of the West Indies, including the Seat 
of War between Great Britain and Spain, likewise 
the British Empire in America " etc. etc. to the 
Hon ble Edward Vernon, Vice Admiral of the Blue 
and Commander in the West Indies, which post the 
Admiral held in 1 740. An advertisement on this 
map, concerning some other publications by H. O., 
is dated March 25, 1741. 

The Nation of Chat lives still on the south shore 
of Lake Erie, and the Salt river, as the Ohio is 
called, rises in their territory. It receives the Ou- 
bach from the north-east and the Hogohegee with 



In Colonial Days. 25 

an affluent, called the Illinos R., from the south- 
east. 

" The Modern Gazetteer" by Mr. Salmon, London, 
1746, says, the " Hohio is a river in North America, 
which rises in the Apalachian Mts. near the confines 
of Carolina and Virginia and running south-west falls 
into the Mississippi and is by some reckoned the 
principal stream, which forms the Mississippi." 

When we consider the frequent intercourse be- 
tween the two capitals, London and Paris, which 
must have made the English familiar not only with 
French fashions, but also with French literary and 
scientific works, we cannot help wondering at the 
slowness, with which the English grasped French 
geographical information. They waited until 1752. 
In the said year appeared " North America, per- 
formed under the patronage of Louis, Duke of 
Orleans, first Prince of the Blood, by the Sieur 
d'Anville,* greatly improved by Mr. Bolton." We 
learn from it, that the Oyo or Bell or Allegany 
river has as tributaries the S l Jerome or Ouabach, 
the Old Chaouanon, the Cherakee and several 
smaller ones. The Monongahela and Great Kan- 
awha are unknown. An English fort is located on 
the Cherakee, where the Pelesipi enters from the 
north-east, an "ancient fort" at the mouth of the 
Ohio. 

A "Map of the British Empire in America" by 
Henry Popple, 1756, demonstrates a most lamenta- 

*Jean B. d'Anville was Royal Geographer of France in 171S; he died 1782. 
4 



26 The Ohio Valley 

ble confusion in British geographical knowledge of 
America. The Cat Nation, destroyed about one 
hundred years before, is still existing. La Riviere 
aux Boeufs, now French Creek, enters the Ohio 
from the east-south-east coming out of a name- 
less lake. The Monongahela and Kanawha are not 
known. The Cherakee is called, as on an English 
edition of d'Anville, the Hogohegee. Near the 
mouth of the Pelesipi we read, that there is "a fit 
place for an English factory," and we find again the 
" Old Fort" at the mouth of the Ohio. 

Dr. Edmund Halley, Professor of Astronomy at 
Oxford, published a new edition of Popple's map 
under the title of " Nouvelle Carte Particuliere de 
1'Amerique " without date. His " improvements " on 
Popple are, that he shortens the Ohio, which rises in 
the present State of that name, and that the sources 
of the Hogohegee are "little known." 

The " New and Accurate Map of the English Em- 
pire in North America," by a Society of Anti-Galli- 
cans, 1755, tells us, that "Walkers, an English settle- 
ment" had existence in the forks at the head of the 
Cumberland river in 1 750 and that the mouths of 
the Ohio and of the Ouabache were guarded by 
French forts. 

The French and Indian war, which ended the 
French claims to the Ohio valley, was productive of 
a number of maps on both sides, of which only a few 
English prints will be mentioned here. 

John Huske's " New and Accurate Map of North 



In Colonial Days. 27 

America (wherein the errors of all preceding British, 
French and Dutch maps respecting the rights of 
Great Britain * * * are corrected), London, 
1755, gives us the names of the French trading posts 
and stations. 

Of " A Map of the British Colonies in North 
America, with the roads * * *" by Dr. John 
Mitchell, F. R. S., London, 1755, the New York his- 
torian, Smith, says: " Dr. Mitchell's map is the only 
authentic one extant. None of the rest concerning 
America have passed under the examination or re- 
ceived the sanction of any public board and they 
generally copy the French." But if, with our present 
knowledge of geography, we look upon this " only au- 
thentic " map, we discover, that the Ohio rises not far 
south-west from Oswego. It gives us, however, the 
location of English settlements and posts in the 
Ohio valley and must, therefore, be considered as a 
valuable source of information by the historical stu- 
dent. Thus we find an "English Settlement" on 
Shenango or Cheninque creek, another at Venango; 
Allegany above Fort du Cane (Du Ouesne) has also 
an English settlement in the Old Shawnoe Town. 
At the mouth of the Scioto or Chianotho is an Eng- 
lish factory. The falls of the Ohio, " passable up or 
down in canoes," are six miles long, 300 miles from 
Shawnoe, at the mouth of the Scioto, and the same 
distance by water from the Mississippi. On the 
Beaver creek, entering the Ohio near Logstown, is 
Owendoes, "the first settlement on the Ohio," and 



28 The Ohio Valley 

below it, Kuskuskies, "the Chief Town of the Six 
Nations on the Ohio" and an English factory. A 
similar factory is established on the Muskingum. 

The Great Miami river is guarded, 150 miles 
from its mouth, by an English fort " established 
1748, the Extent of English Settlements." 

The country on the Kanawha near the Carolina 
boundary is "well settled," and near the head of this 
river we discover a settlement, the German origin of 
which its name " Freydeck " betrays. 

Walkers, near the head of the Cumberland, is the 
" Extent of English Settlements in 1750." At Tel- 
lico, between the Tanassee and Euphasee branches 
of the Hogohogee, is an English factory, while the 
country along the Holston branch of the same river 
is "settled." 

A "Chart of the Atlantic Ocean with the British, 
French and Spanish Settlements in North America 
and the West Indies" by T. Jefferys, is given in two 
parts, of which the first shows, that the French 
claimed all the territory west of an almost straight 
line from Crown Point in New York to Pensacola 
bay in Florida, while Part II shows the propositions, 
made in 1761 by M. de Bussy, in regard to a bound- 
ary line, including a neutral territory, which was to 
divide the French from the English dominions. 
This neutral district begins at the head of the 
Ohio and includes the land on the north shore of 
Lake Erie and the present State of West Virginia 
with Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee, but does 



In Colonial Days. 2 9 

not comprise the left side of the Ohio in these 

parts. 

Contemporaneous English knowledge of American 
geography is best illustrated in the paper from the 
Sparks Collection in Harvard Library, mentioned 
above, in Appendix C. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Indians of the Ohio Valley. 

Gallatin in his " Synopsis of Indian Tribes" dis- 
tributes the Indians, in whom we are interested on 
this occasion, as follows in the year 1600 : 

The Wyandots and the Neuter Nation live be- 
tween the Lakes Ontario and Erie on the south and 
Lake Huron with the Ottawa river on the north. 
On the southern shore of Ontario and Erie we find 
the Five Nations, west of them along the Allegany 
river the Andastes, and close upon the Lake Erie 
the Erigas. These Iroquois tribes, just mentioned, 
appear upon Gallatin's map like an island in the sur- 
rounding sea of Algonquin tribes, who are divided 
into Miamis on the east side of the Wabash river, 
Piankishaws,* south of them, but north of the 
Ohio ; Shawanoes along and east of the Cumber- 
land but south of the Ohio, the Chicasaws on the 
lower Tennessee, the Cherokees on the upper part of 
the river, as far as the Carolinas, form the southern 
contingent of the aborigines under consideration. 

The American Antiquarian, published at Cleve- 
land, the old Indian Cayuhaga, brings in its num- 
ber for April, 1879, an article by Mr. C. C. Bald- 

* Piankashas, Peanguichias, Pianquichias. 



The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days. 3 1 

win on " Early Indian Migration in Ohio," with a 
map, giving the location of tribes in 1600. Accord- 
ing to this map the Andastes are on the Susque- 
hannah, the Eries on the upper Allegany, Shawnoes 
on both sides of the Ohio, from near the head of 
Monongahela to the little Miami, the Cherokees are 
relegated to the mountains, from which the Great 
Kanawha comes, the Illinois take the place of the 
Miamis and Piankashaws on the east side of the 
Wabash, extending to the north side of the Ohio, 
the Miamis have been moved to the Miami river of 
Lake Erie or Maumee, as now called, and the Arkan- 
sas live east of the Mississippi, along the Cumber- 
land and Tennessee rivers, west and north-west of 
the Cherokees. I shall not attempt to prove or dis- 
prove the correctness of either Mr. Gallatin or Mr. 
Baldwin, but the following pages will bring the his- 
tory of the Indians, as told by eye witnesses of and 
actors in the Colonial drama. The localities occu- 
pied by Indian tribes before they came into contact 
with Europeans cannot interest us so very much at 
this day, and I will, therefore, take the reader to the 
first graphic record, which gives us any knowledge 
of some of them. That is Champlain's Map of 1632, 
on which the " Hirocois" are placed south of Lake 
Ontario, on the head waters of a stream running 
from north to south into the Riviere des Trettes, to- 
day the Hudson. South-south-west of them live the 
Carantouanons on the head of Susquehannah, west- 
ward we come to the Antouoronons at the head of 



32 The. Ohio Valley 

Lake Ontario. On the south side of the unduly 
lengthened Niagara river la Nation neutre is seated, 
and adjoining them on the west are Les gens de feu, 
Assistagueronons, or the Cat Nation. In the center 
of the present State of Ohio, with rivers all running 
northward, lives a nameless nation, oil il y a quan- 
tite de beuffles (where plenty of buffaloes are found). 
So far extended Champlain's knowledge. Creux- 
ius, who next, in 1660, attempted to enlighten his 
countrymen on the geography of the New World 
by a map, accompanying his Historia Canadensis, 
gives apparently correct locations to Five Nations of 
New York from the eastern end of Lake Erie to 
the Mohawk and Delaware rivers, both issuing from 
a small lake. At the west end he places the 
Natio Felium, the Cat Nation, while gens neutra, 
has emigrated to the north-west of Lake Ontario. 
According to No. 3 of the Parkman Collection of 
Maps, mentioned before, the Antouaronons, nation 
detruite, sat on the north shore of Lake Erie ; the 
Pouteatamis (Poutowatomies) occupy the north-west 
corner of it and the country along Niagara river 
is in the hands of the Gantastogeronons, "ce qui en 
eloigne les Iroquois" (which keeps away the Iro- 
quois). South of the Ohio and within a short dis- 
tance of it is the lake Onia-sont, around which the 
Oniasont-Keronons live.- 

To begin the detailed survey of the Indians of the 
Ohio Valley with the Five Nations, who played such 
an important part in the Colonial history of New 



In Colonial Days. 33 

York, may appear to many a reader an unwarranted 
diversion. But if the same reader remembers, that 
the war-cry of the Mohawks and their fellow clans 
struck terror into the hearts of the Hurons in Can- 
ada, of the Miamis of Ohio and Illinois, of the Cha- 
ouanons of Kentucky and Tennessee, and of the 
Cherokees and Chicasaws of Carolina, not to speak 
of the eastern tribes, this diversion will be found 
excusable. 

When this powerful nation first came in contact 
with European settlers, they occupied- the territory 
from Lake Champlain in the east to and along 
part of the southern shore of Lake Erie on the 
west. John Smith of Virginia knew them as the 
Massawomecks in 1608, and we are told by Father 
Ragueneau in his Relations of 161 8, that when the 
Hurons sent agents to ask the Andastes in Pennsyl- 
vania for help against the Five Nations, these mes- 
sengers had to make a detour through Western 
Ohio, in order to escape falling into the clutches of 
their enemies. Next to them on the west lived the 
Eries and Neutrals, who were completely extin- 
guished by the Five Nations, although they belonged 
apparently to the same distinctive branch of Indian 
nationality, to the Iroquois. After having thoroughly 
decimated the fur-bearing animals in their own coun- 
try and in the territory of their immediate western 
neighbors and kinsmen, the Five Nations extended 
their hunting expeditions still further west and 
reached thus the Mississippi in a manner, which Mr. 
5 



34 The Ohio Valley 

Parkman, in his " Discovery of the Great West," has 
so graphically described. In their warfare against 
the Illinois tribes, they knew how to make allies of 
the Miamis, sitting between the Illinois and the 
Eries. The Jesuit Relations of 1654 inform us 
that in May of that year some Onnontaehronons 
(Onondagas) came to Montreal to return some 
French prisoners in their hands. With their sixteenth 
string of wampum they told Onontio : " Our young 
men will no longer fight against the French ; but as 
they are too great warriors to do any thing else, we 
let you know that we shall carry our arms against 
the Eriehronons (Cat Nation) ; this summer we'll 
lead an army against them. The earth shall tremble 
on that side, while every thing is quiet here." This' 
war, thus announced, settled the fate of the Eries, as 
an independent tribe, and another war, begun two 
years later, in 1656, but lasting sixteen years, until 
1672, nearly wiped out another tribe of the Ohio 
Valley. A treaty between the Five Nations and the 
French, ratified by the Senecas in May, 1666, men- 
tioned this tribe, the Andastes, Andastaeronons or 
Guyandots as seated on the Alleghany and Ohio. 
Their chief town is supposed to have been near 
Pittsburgh.* 

In the same year, 1672, the Five Nations subdued 
and incorporated the Chaouanons, or Shawanoes, 
who, according to Mitchell, were the original propri- 
etors of the country west of the Alleghanies. 

*N. Y. Col. Docts., Ill, 125. 



In Colonial Days. 35 

The'efforts, successfully made by the Five Nations 
to push westward, did not please the French, for 
these Indians, still faithful to Corlear and Ouidor,* 
brought the English to the western lakes, and after 
extinguishing the Cat Nations, made war upon the 
Chichtaghicks (Twightwees) and other nations, who 
yielded the most profitable trade to the French. 

In consequence of all these wars upon their own 
race the Five Nations claimed, in 1701, possession 
by inheritance from their ancestors, who held by 
right of conquest from the Aragaritkas (Hurons), 
the land west and north-west from Albany, begin- 
ning on the north-west side of Cadaraqui (Ontario) 
lake and including all the waste land between Otta- 
wawa lake (Lake Huron) and Sahsquage (Swege, 
Erie) lake, and " runs until it butts upon the Twitch- 
wichs (Miamis), and is bounded on the right hand 
(west) by a place called Ouadoge,f containing in 
length about 800 miles and in breadth 400 miles, in- 
cluding the country where the beavers, the deers, 
elks and such beasts keep, and the place called Ti- 
engsachrondio, alias Fort de Tret (Detroit), or 
Wawyachtenoch, and so runs round the lake of 
Swege till you come to a place called Oniadaronda- 
quat (Irondequoit), which is about twenty miles from 
the Sinnekes castle " . . . \ 

* Names given to the Governor of New York: Corlear, after Arent van 
Corlear, and Quidor, after Peter Schuyler, both highly esteemed by the 
Five Nations. 

f Chicago, see Mitchell's Map of North America, 1755, and Map in 
Charlevoix. 

% N. Y. Col. Hist., IV, 10S. 



36 The Ohio Valley 

This quit-claim of [701 was not considered quite 
sufficient authority by the Government of Now York 
to prevent the French from getting a foothold in the 
territory oi the Five Nations and from building a 
fort at Niagara. Governor Burnet, therefore, urged 
them at a conference, held at Albany, September i.|, 
17 jo. to fulfill their promise of 1701, which was to 
submit and give up all their hunting country to the 
King of England and to sign a deed for it. Then, 
the Governor told them. England could defend them 
against the French and secure to them a quiet enjoy- 
ment of their own lands. The sachems oi the Sen- 
ecas, Cayugas and Onondagas signed then for 
themselves a deed oi trust to King George for the 
country from Salmon river, in Oswego county. N. 
Y.. west to Cleveland, Ohio, and sixty miles to the 
south of this east and west line.* 

Neither the treat) oi i;ot was called a deed of 
sale, a conveyance, or whatever legal term may be 
applied to ceding the rights of property in land, nor 
the deed of trust made in [726. Apparently neither 
the Five Nations nor the Colonial authorities con- 
sidered it so, for in November, [763, Sir William 
fohnson, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the 
Northern Department, writes to t ho Lords oi Trade 
and Plantations :f "They (the hive Nations') claim 
by right of conquest all the country, including the 
Ohio, along the great ridge oi Blue mountains at the 

* N. V. Col. Hist., V. Boo, and Mss. Parchment, State Library, Albany. 

t lb. V 1 1 



In Colonial Days. 37 

back of Virginia; thence to the head of Kentucky 
river and down the same to the Ohio above the rifts; 
thrm c northerly to the south end of Lake Michigan; 
then along the east shore to Missillimackinack ; 
thence easterly across the north end of Lake Huron 
to Ottawa river and Island of Montreal . . . Their 
claim to the Ohio and thence to the lakes is not in 
the least disputed by the Shawanese, Delawares and 
Others, who never transacted any sales of land or 
other matters without their consent." 

In their intercourse with the French these same 
Indians, either as separate tribes or as a confedera- 
tion, asserted their claim to the Ohio lands,* and in 
1 78 1, Croghan, for many years Indian agent under 
Sir William Johnson, confirmed this claim of the 
Five Nations to the Ohio territory on the south side 
as far as the Cherokee river and on the north-we it 
side as far as the Big Miami. We must, therefore, 
admit the Five Nations of New York Indians as an 
important factor in the Indian history of the Ohio 
Valley. 

Almost equally important or at least as frequently 
mentioned in official reports of the period is the tribe 
of the Shawanese (Chaouanons of the French). 

Readers, who have made a study of Indian lan- 
guages, may be able to tell, whether the name of the 
Shawangunk or Showangunk mountains in Ulster 
county, New York, has been derived from this tribe, 
which was first brought to notice by de Laet, the 

* See Instructions to Du Qoetne, N. V. Col., Hist., X, 244. 



38 The Ohio Valley 

historian of New Netherland, in 1632, who following 
some reports places them on both sides of the Dela- 
ware river in the neighborhood of the Capitanasses 
tribe, mentioned on the Carte Figurative of 1616. 
Next we read the name in the account of Lederer's 
travels from Virginia to the west of Carolina in 1669 
and 1670. He calls a river coming from near Lake 
Ashley the Rorenock or Shawan.* A few years 
later Joliet published his map of 1673-4, showing 
his discoveries on the Mississippi and we find the 
Chaouanons south of the Ohio along the greater 
river as far south as the mouth of the Basire or 
Arkansas river. The investigator of Shawanese mi- 
grations cannot fail to be puzzled by Joliet, for on 
his "Carte Generale" we see the Chaouanons with 
fifteen villages placed into the Ohio valley, but as 
the river is not carried as far east, as where the name 
of this tribe occurs, it is impossible to tell on which 
side of the river the villages were situated. The 
above-mentioned map, No. 3 of the Parkman collec- 
tion, places them north of the Ohio and the tribe of 
the Illinois south of it, while Joliet's map gives to 
the latter what we must consider their true location 
west of and near to Lake Michigan and north of the 
river named after them. 

A map of Delislef (1707) calls a tributary of the 
Wabash " Riviere des Indiens, par ce que les Chaou- 

* Sketch of his map in Hawk's North Carolina, II, 52. 

f In the Amsterdam (1707) edition of Garcilasso de la Vegas Histoire des 
Incas et de la conquete de la Floride, vol. II; reproduced in French's His- 
torical Collections of Louisiana. 



In Colonial Days. 39 

anons y habitent " (because the Ch. live here), while 
the present Pedee (?) is called R. des Chaouanons 
and a village of this tribe is marked, as lying on 
both sides of it. Another settlement of the same 
tribe is to be found on the Alabama river. 

According to a map, mentioned in a previous 
chapter,* they lived on a tributary of the Akansea 
Septentrionale, which is really the Ohio, while the 
country at the heads of the Alabama and Apalach- 
icola rivers is called "Pays des Chaouanons." The 
map of 1740-41, dedicated to Admiral Edward Ver- 
non, places this tribe on the south side of the Hogo- 
hegee, while d'Anville's map, improved by Mr. 
Bolton, locates them in 1752 above Fort DuQuesne, 
and a German edition of the same map by d'Anville, 
published in 1756, has moved them to the mouth of 
the Scioto or Sikoder. In the " Conspiracy of Pon- 
tiac,"t Mr. Parkman says of the Shawnees : " Their 
eccentric wanderings, their sudden appearances and 
disappearances, perplex the antiquary and defy re- 
search." According to Joliet, they were on the Ohio 
in 1673. Ten years later, 1683, La Salle, the discov- 
erer, writes, J that the Cha6anons, Chaskpes and 
Ouabans, have at his solicitations abandoned the 
Spanish trade and eight or nine villages, occupied 
by them, for the purpose of joining the French inter- 
est and settling near Fort S l Louis on the upper 

* Carte de la Nouv. France, widow Jo. van Keulen. 

\h 32. 

X N. Y. Col. Hist., IX, 799. 



4-0 The Ohio Valley 

Illinois river. Franquelin's map of 1688, mentions 
in that vicinity the Ouabans and Chaskpes, but no 
Chaouanons. 

At a conference, held by the French with the Five 
Nations at Kayahoge, now called Cleveland, Ohio, 
in 1684, the Indians gave as one reason for their war 
against the Twightwees or Chictaghicks, that these 
latter had brought the Satanas (Sawanons, Chaou- 
anons of the French, Shawanoes, Shawnees of the 
English) into their country to assist them in their 
struggle and armed them. The war was disastrous 
to the western nations and others in the interest of 
the French, for the Five Nations added to the popu- 
lation of their castles a large number of prisoners, 
taken from the Shawanoes.* 

In August, 1692, the then Commander-in-Chief of 
New York, Major Ingoldsby, was informed that Sat- 
taras Indians, late in war with the Five Nations, had 
come, numbering 100 warriors, as far as the Dela- 
ware river, to negotiate a peace with the New York 
Indians. It was considered that such a peace would 
vastly contribute to their Majesties' interest, as then 
the Five Nations could more forcibly wage war on 
the French, while a war with the more distant Sha- 
wanoes " much diverted and hindered them in their 
efforts against Canada."f 

The Council of New York ordered, that Capt. 
Arent Schuyler should forthwith be dispatched to 

* Colden, Five Nations. 

f N. Y. Council Minutes, MSS., VI, 115. 



In Colonial Days. 41 

these Indians with two belts of wampum in order to 
conduct them safely to the city of New York, and 
seven days later Capt. Schuyler had so far accom- 
plished his task, that he could present himself be- 
fore Governor and Council with the Far Indians, 
called the Showannes, and some Senecas, who had 
traveled amongst them for nine years. The chief of 
these Senecas, Malisit, reported that on his way 
toward his former home on Lake Ontario, he had 
met Monsieur Tonty, captain of a French castle at 
the head of the lakes ; that Tonty had asked whither 
he was going, and upon Malisit's reply " Home," had 
said, " What need you return there, I have killed 
your father, the Corlear, your brethren and relations, 
and burnt all the country? Tarry with me and I'll 
give you my laced coat." The Seneca may have 
known by experience, how much reliance he could 
place on a Frenchman's report and promise and con- 
tinued on his way with his Shawanoe companions, 
who wanted first to see the country, new to them, 
and open the path, promising to come the next year 
in greater numbers and with more of the rich pro- 
ducts of their country. 

Malisit confirmed these promises with a beaver 
coat, but he had not considered, what his tribal 
brothers would say to this plan of opening a direct 
intercourse between their enemies, the Shawnees, 
and their friends, the English. As soon as the news 
of these intentions reached the villages of the Five 
Nations, they informed Governor Fletcher through 
6 



42 The Ohio Valley 

the Mayor of Albany, that a treaty, as proposed, 
could not be made without their consent and only in 
their presence. Their jealousy was cleverly appeased 
by a message from Fletcher,* and in a conference 
held with them in July, 1693, they said: "We are 
glad that the Shawanoes, who were our enemies, 
have made their application to you last fall for pro- 
tection, and that you sent them hither (to Albany) 
to make peace with us."f 

This seems to have been the first contact, which 
the English colonists had with the distant tribe from 
the south-western corner of the Ohio valley, although 
we must consider as simultaneous an application made 
to Governor Fletcher in September, 1692, by some 
Hudson River Indians, who had long been absent 
from their native haunts, and lived among the Show- 
anees. In an audience with the Governor and 
Council of New York, they set forth " that they had 
long been absent from their native country, and did 
desire to be kindly received, as they in former days 
received the Christians, when they first came to 
America, — they pray the same likewise in behalf of 
the strange Indians they have brought along with 
them. They add, moreover, that they are now 
come to their own river and those Far Indians have 
accompanied them by the Great God's protection ; 
they are poor, but come to renew the covenant-chain 
with Corlear, the Mohawks and Five Nations, and 

*N. Y. Council Minutes, MSS., VI, 126. 
+ N. Y. Col. Hist., IV, 43. 



In Colonial Days. 43 

confirm it with the fruits of their far country, 
whither they intend to depart in twenty days." A 
Minissink Indian, present at this interview, declared 
that they had accepted the Far Indians " as their 
friends and relations," and that his tribe, being very 
poor, intended to go with the Showanees and hunt 
in their country. 

Governor Fletcher' told the Showanees delega- 
tion that they first must- make peace with the Five 
Nations, and this done, he would extend to them the 
same protection as to the rest of the Indians.* The 
result of these interviews, in August and September, 
1692, were the before-mentioned message, sent by 
the Five Nations in July of the following year, and 
a cessation of hostilities between the two most im- 
portant tribes in the valley of the Ohio. 

The various cessions of territory, made by the 
Five Nations, and other sources enable us to locate 
these tribes almost definitely, but it is difficult to say, 
where the Shawanese came from, when they first 
appeared upon the stage of Colonial Indian politics. 

In 1692 some of them appeared nearly one thou- 
sand miles east of the location, given by Joliet, as 
stated before. From this time we must assume, that 
they became important factors in Indian politics, for 
in August, 1694, they have again, in company of 
Mohicans, an interview with Governor Fletcher at 
Kingston, f in which the River Indians say, that they 

*N. Y. Council Minutes, MSS., VI, 126. 
+ N. Y. Col. MSS., XXXIX, 188. 



44 The Ohio Valley 

have had oreat difficulties in bringing the Shawanees 
and Far Indians to see Corlear. The Showanees 
and the Far Indians are here named as two distinct 
tribes, but as the name of "Far Indians" is arbi- 
trarily applied in Colonial days to all tribes west of 
the Five Nations, it is very likely that a subdivision 
or a tribe in close alliance with the Shawnees is 
meant. They were now admitted to the covenant 
chain, and reported that three hundred of their tribe 
were to follow them east in a short time. Their ad- 
herence to the English interest lasted for some time, 
for during Queen Anne's war, they sent war parties 
to assist the Senecas of New York against the 
French.* But twenty years later, in 1732, we read 
in a letter from King Louis XIV to his Governor of 
Canada, Beauharnois,f that the Chaouanons have 
come down to Montreal during the preceding sum- 
mer, to demand of Onontio^ the place, where he 
wished to locate them. In the same year, Joncaire, 
the French agent on the Ohio, reported that the 
Shawnees were settled in villages on the other side 
of " Oyo," six leagues below the river Atigue.§ 
Negligence on the part of the English authorities 
and skillful management by the French changed the 
feeling among the Chaouanons so much, that in 
1736, the same Joncaire could write to the Governor 
of Canada, the tribe had rejected the evil advices, 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., V, 270. 

fib., IX, 1033. 

\ Indian name for the Governor of Canada. 

£ R. au Boeuf, now French Creek, Bellins Carte de la Louisiane. 



hi Colonial Days. 45 

given by their old allies, the Iroquois, and would not 
take up the hatchet against the French. They said, 
as Onontio had located them on the Ohio, they 
would not leave there without his orders.* In the 
following year they were again expected at Montreal 
and Governor Beauharnois was directed, not to neg- 
lect any thing, to make them settle near Detroit, 
especially as Cherokees and Chickasaws had made 
settlements on the Ohio.f In the course of time 
the Shawnees became a fixture on Ohio territory. 
According to an official report of the "Occurrences 
in Canada during i 747 and 1748"? the Y refused to 
leave their village of Sonioto,§ where they formed 
a league to destroy the upper country posts, in which 
league Senecas and Mohegans, with whom the Shaw- 
nees seem to have entertained special friendly rela- 
tions, participated. These eastern Indians living 
then on the Ohio, were very much incensed by the 
news that four of their people had been killed by 
French from Detroit, and two war parties set out 
with the avowed intention to make war against the 
French at the Miamis** and at Detroit. At the same 
time news from Ostandausket (Sandusky) reached 
Montreal, that the Chaouanons of Charter' s tribe,ft 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., IX, 1050. 
\ lb., p. 1059. 
tIb.,X, 138. 
£Now Scioto. 

** Fort S l Joseph. _ 

tf A map of Pennsylvania, by T. Kitchin, 1756, locates Charuer s Old 
Town about thirty miles above Pittsburgh. 



46 The Ohio Valley 

had not come to Detroit on an invitation, extended 
to them, but had surprised some forts on Cherokee 
(Tennessee) river ; they were reported to be in a 
fort with the Cherokees and Alibanons, though 
Chartier, who seems to have had much influence 
over his tribe, excused that evasion and gave assur- 
ances that he and his people would remain friends 
of the French. It is evident that the Shawnees 
were vacillating ; they had probably seen and learned 
that, although the French descended to their level of 
savage and uncivilized life with more readiness than 
the English, commercial benefits were easier ob- 
tained from the latter than from the former. All 
their actions at this time point to a desire of sever- 
ing the alliance with Canada. The Miamis, a tribe 
allied with the Shawnees, but unfriendly to the 
French, had resolved to send a deputation under 
their chief, La Demoiselle, to Detroit and to return 
to their duty in the French interest, but messengers 
from the Chaouanons dissuaded them. In 1750, 
when according to some authority this tribe first ap- 
peared in Ohio, the Indians of the Six Nations, then 
settled on the Ohio, the Shawnees and the Dela- 
wares with their new allies, the Owendaets and 
Twightwees, formed a body of 1500 to 2000 men,* a 
factor in English-French politics important enough 
to cause both sides to make all endeavors for secur- 
ing their alliance. Joncaire, well versed in Indian 
affairs, and a companion were sent from Canada, to 

*N. Y. Council Minutes, MSS., XXI, 397. 



In Colonial Days. 47 

bring the Ohio Indians firmly back into the French 
interest, while goods were expected from London for 
the same purpose and to pay for lands bought from 
them by the Treaty of Lancaster. The French were 
apparently successful, for in 1756, Governor Hardy 
of New York has to confess in a letter to the Lords 
of Trade and Plantations, that there was little hope 
for inducing the Shawnees and Delawares, settled on 
the Ohio, to leave the French and come over into the 
English interest, although Sir William Johnson, the 
Indian Commissioner, thinks that their defection is 
not general. But at the end of the year Edmund 
Atkins, the Superintendent of Indian affairs for the 
Southern Department, writes, " that Sir William had 
told him, the Six Nations were weakened and dis- 
tressed, some of the western Nations having fallen off 
from their alliance and the Shawanese and such of the 
Delawares living on the Ohio, who had been subject 
to them, having been set up and supported in an inde- 
pendency by the French, still continuing hostilities." 
At the close of the French war, which necessarily set- 
tled the difficulty, the Shawnees had moved back from 
the Ohio and established a village about ninety miles 
up the Scioto, where numbers of the Delawares and 
others joined them. The defeat of their French friends 
had not made the Shawnees very friendly to the Eng- 
lish victors. They continued to harass the frontiers 
and caused considerable anxiety to the officers of the 
Indian Department.* The Indian outbreak under 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., VII, 603. 



48 The Ohio Valley 

Pontiac found the Shawnees willing to follow this 
great leader against the English, and after the cessa- 
tion of hostilities, they were employed, through Pon- 
tiac's agency, by a nation beyond the Chickasaws, as 
peace negotiators among all other tribes, because 
they spoke all languages. In the decade preceding 
the War of Independence, they moved further down 
the Ohio and were severely taken to task for this 
withdrawal by Thomas King, a chief of one of the 
Six Nations, who, while on his way to a great Indian 
Congress on the Scioto, harangued them at Fort 
Pitt and arrived at Scioto, addressed himself to all 
nations present, upbraiding the Shawnees again for the 
same reason. The Shawnees answered, that they 
had moved down the Ohio, because they felt neg- 
lected by the Six Nations, who disregarded the 
promises to give them the lands between the Ohio 
and the lakes, therefore they had taken their canoes 
and went down the river. But the Six Nations had 
stopped them at Scioto, fixed them there and 
charged them to live in peace with the English. 
They were astonished afterward to see the same Six 
Nations take up the hatchet against the English on 
the lakes. Then the Iroquois again ill-treated them 
and they became allies of the Illinois and the Ten 
Confederate Nations.* Sir William Johnson, who 
reports the above in a letter to Lord Hillsborough in 
1772, gives, to a certain extent, an explanation for 
the dissatisfaction and hostile feeling of the Shawnees 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., VII, 864. 



In Colonial Days. 49 

in his allusion to land transactions. He says : " It 
appears to me, the Shawanese who, to my knowledge, 
grasped at the lands on both sides of the Ohio, though 
at the late conference they only mention the north 
side, repenting y e sale of lands on the south side, had 
sent belts to the Senecas to stir up the Six Nations 
to disavow their own act. Another meeting, I am 
informed, is to be held at Scioto. I ought to remark 
that the Shawnees have spoken of the sale to the 
Crown extending to the Ohio ; that it is not that 
part, which for the several reasons I formerly gave, I 
ventured to continue from Kanhawa to Cherokee 
river, but this pretended ojection is to the part 
above the Kanhawa."* 

A play-bill always gives the names of all the per- 
sons who are to appear upon the stage, whether they 
have much to say or not. Following this rule, we 
must look up the Indian tribes, who were brought 
forward on the political stage of the Ohio Valley in 
Colonial days. 

Next in importance to the two powerful native 
clans, already mentioned, were the Delawares or 
Lenni-Lenapes. We have nothing to do with their 
history when they were living on the lower Delaware 
and Susquehannah rivers, except to know that they 
had been subdued bv the Five Nations, and though 
not bodily wiped from the surface of the continent 
like the Eries, they had been deprived of all political 
rights and had been given the petticoat with the title 

* N. Y. Col. Hist., VIII, 292. 



50 The Ohio Valley 

of women, unfit for warlike work. A treaty with the 
Indians of his department in 1756, which the Dela- 
wares attended, was concluded by Sir William John- 
son with the ceremony of taking off from the 
Algonquin or Lenni-Lenape followers of the Iroquois 
the petticoat and that invidious name of women. 
This was done in the name of their " father, the 
great King of England," with the promise to induce 
the Six Nations to do the same.* As soon after the 
Delawares acted independently from their former 
masters, it is most likely that the Six Nations fol- 
lowed Sir William's example. Another chapter will 
show how impolitic and subsequently disastrous this 
well-meant, good-natured act of Sir William turned 
out for the English of the Ohio Valley. At the time 
of the just mentioned treaty Delawares were seated 
in the forks of the Allegany and Monongahela rivers 
where Pittsburgh now stands, and Shingiss, their 
chief, was in 1754, a terror to the frontier settle- 
ments. They had obtained, between 1 740 and 1 750, 
from their ancient allies and uncles, the Wyandots, 
a grant of land on the Muskingum river, and hither 
the Delawares with their allies in the war, the Sha- 
wanoes, moved in 1768.* 

"At the present day," says Parkman in his Pontiac, 
" the small remnant settled beyond the Mississippi 
are among the bravest marauders of the west." 
General Fremont bears witness to their usefulness- 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., VII, 119. 



In Colonial Days. 5 1 

to him on his expedition and the Federal generals 
who, during the late war, commanded in that depart- 
ment knew their value as scouts and outposts. 

The original location of another Algonquin tribe, 
the Miamis, seems to have puzzled the historians of 
the aboriginal race of America, as much as the Sha- 
wanoes. Gallatin in his "Synopsis of Indian Tribes" 
places them upon the banks of the Wabash, C. C. 
Baldwin, who wrote on the " Early Migrations of the 
Indians in Ohio,"* locates them upon the river form- 
erly called after them as the River Miami of Lake 
Erie, now the Maumee. The first Europeans, who 
must have traversed their territory, La Salle, Joliet, 
Tonty and the earlier Jesuits, do not mention their 
name of Miamis, but may have reported about them 
under a name so different, that neither the French 
name of Miamis nor the English of Twightwees is to 
be recognized. Later Jesuit missionaries, Charlevoix 
and Allouez, think that the Miamis and the Illinois 
have been the same people, because of the great 
affinity of their language. 

When the Twightwees first appear in history, they 
were allies of the French and at war with the Five 
Nations. The Five Nations admitted in 1687, that 
to make peace with the Far Indians (which title in- 
cluded the Miamis, the Shawanoes theOttawais, also 
called Waganhaes or Dowangahaes, and the Dionon- 
dadee of the Huron nation), was well-meant advice,f 



* American Antiquarian, April, 1879. 
fN. Y. Col. Hist., IV, 650. 



52 The Ohio Valley 

but in 1699 they had not yet made up their minds to 
follow this advice, and in 1700 the secretary to the 
Commissioners of Indian Affairs, Robert Livingston 
of Albany, N. Y., again advises after .1 journey to 
Onondaga, that it is necessary to obtain a peace be- 
tween the Five Nations and Dowangahaes, T wight- 
wees and other Far I ndians and to build a fort between 
Lakes Sweege (Erie) and Ottawawa (Huron), 744 
miles from Albany. To such a fort, he thinks all the 
Twightwees. Kichtages (Illinois), Wawyachtenokes 
and Shawanoes would come. In [721 the Miamis 
(Twightwees) are still settled upon the river, named 
after them and running into Lake Erie, to the number 
of 2,000. To gain this nation as allies and friends of 
the English was considered as a matter of great im- 
portance and it was proposed and recommended, — 
the Hoard of Trade in London and Governor Spots- 
wood of Virginia being of this opinion, — to establish 
a trade with them and build a small fort on Lake 
Erie, where, up to 1718, the French had as yet no 
settlement.* Two years later, in 1 72$, they were first 
seen in the colonies of England. Deputies of their 
nation arrived in New York with an interpreter, who 
informed the Governor and Council, that they were 
called Miamis by the French and lived upon the 
branches of the Mississippi. 

A peace between the Five Nations and the Far 
Indians was evidently not concluded, as Livingston 
had suggested, for in 1736 the Miamis had dwindled 
*N. Y. Col. Hist., V, 620-2. 



In Colonial Days. 53 

down to 200 fighting men, while their sub-tribes of 
the Ouyattanons, Peanguichias and Petikokias num- 
bered only 350. The peculiar social division into 
families, distinguished by totems, but belonging to 
the same village, extended to these western tribes. 
Mr. Parkman, in his " Conspiracy of Pontiac," and 
Schoolcraft, in his " Oneota," have explained this 
system of totems so fully, that it is superfluous to 
dilate on it here beyond stating, that the Miamis 
had for totems of their principal families the Hind 
and the Crane, a third family was of the Bear. 
The Serpent, Deer and Small Acorn were the totems 
of the sub-tribes. 

The first half of the eighteenth century had nearly 
passed and the Iroquois were still at war with the 
Miamis. A sachem of the Five Nations tells the Mar- 
quis de Beauharnois, Governor of Canada, in 1745: 
"This spring your children, the Ouyatonons, Miamis 
and Peanguichias have struck me. I* did not carry 
the hatchet back to them, as I bore in mind your or- 
der to keep peace."t Beauharnois promised to rep- 
rimand his children, the Miamis, etc., and did it so 
well, that three years later, the Iroquois presented at 
the treaty, held at Lancaster, Pa. (1748). some depu- 
ties from their former enemies, to have them admit- 
ted to the covenant chains with the English and 
their Indian allies. Apparently the Miamis did not 

" *The speaker means by I the whole of the Confederacy of Iroquois, for 
whom he speaks. 
+ N. Y. Col. Hist., X, 25. 



54 The Ohio Valley 

include their sub-tribes of Pianguichias and Wawi- 
oughtones in this covenant, or the tie between them 
was of such a character, that one tribe could not act 
politically for the others. For George Croghan, who 
traded along the south shore of Lake Erie and was 
for some time Sir William Johnson's agent to the 
Indians in the Ohio Valley, reported, that while 
among the Twightwees in 1749-50, to deliver them 
presents, chiefs of the Pianguichias and Wawiough- 
tonas living on the Wabash came to him and re- 
quested admission to the Covenant chain with the 
English and the Five Nations. Croghan, well versed 
in Indian politics and knowing the necessity of draw- 
ing over to the British interest as many of the west- 
ern tribes as possible, was in favor of having these 
new applicants received into the English alliance, 
but the Assembly of Pennsylvania rejected this 
friendly offer of the Pianguichias and Wawiough- 
tones, "condemned Croghan for bad conduct in 
drawing an additional expense on the Government 
and the Indians were neglected."* 

Gist, an agent of Virginia, who was sent out west on 
a mission to the Indians in 1 75 1 , found Twightwees, 
whom Harrison, in his "Aborigines," calls the most 
eastern of the Miami tribes, in villages on the Scioto. 
The same author places Hurons or Wyandots into 
the territory eastward from Miami bay along what 
is now called the Western Reserve and southward 
as far as the Ohio. West of them sit, according to 

* N. Y. Col. Hist., VII, 268. 



In Colonial Days. 55 

him, the Miamis. Numerous villages were to be 
found in the extensive territory occupied by them 
on the Scioto, the headwaters of the two Miamis of 
the Ohio, also on the Miami of Lake Erie and the 
Wabash, but none on the Ohio. In 1763 the Wyan- 
dots, numbering 250 men, had some villages near 
Fort Sandusky, while the Twightwees, living near 
the fort on the Miami (Maumee) river, numbered 
only 230 men. The official report, from which these 
figures are taken,* calls them an originally very 
powerful people, who, having been subdued by the 
Six Nations, were permitted to enjoy their landed 
possessions. The report continues by calling the 
Kickapous, Mascoutens, Piankashaws and Wawiagh- 
tonas, altogether 570 fighters, sub-tribes of the 
Miamis on the Wabash. They resided in the neigh- 
borhood of the fort at Wawiaghta, and though the 
reporter has heard of more tribes and villages there, 
he confesses that the just named are all, who are per- 
fectly known. 

Of the Far Nations, not already spoken of, much 
need not be said here, for they were not residents of 
the Ohio Valley. But as the term " Far Nations " is 
sometimes used in colonial documents without ofiv- 
ing the tribal name, a short resume of their relations 
with the Colonies, may interest the reader. 

The Governor and Council of New York directed 
in 1687, that an inquiry should be made among the 
Five Nations of how long since they first traded with 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., VII, 583. 



56 The Ohio Valley 

the farther Indians and the Indians with the Straws 
or Pyres through their noses.* [Quaere? the mod- 
ern Nez Perces.] 

This inquiry was instigated by commercial reason, 
as the subsequent action of the Representatives of 
Albany and Esopus (Ulster county) in the General 
Assembly of the Province showed. Both places were 
more or less the fur and peltry market of the Eng- 
lish Colonies, and as the Five Nations had practi- 
cally depopulated their country from fur-bearing ani- 
mals, it became necessary to go farther afield for the 
valuable products of the chase, by the trade for 
which the Dutch inhabitants of the named districts 
laid the foundation for their wealth. The Represen- 
tatives mentioned urged in 1691, that commu- 
nications opened and peace made with the Far Na- 
tions would be of great benefit and revenue for the 
Province. The Assembly concurred in this view of 
the matter and ordered, that Albany should send six 
Christians and Esopus also six with twenty-five In- 
dians to treat with the Far Nations, f 

In 1694 Far Indians, settled in the Minissink 
country, came to thank Corlear for the care taken 
of them and put themselves under the protection of 
New York. \ These Far Indians were probably 
Shawanese, who have been shown above to have 
come to New York at this time. The Indians of the 

*N. Y. Council Minutes, MSS., VI, p. v. 
fib., 27. 
Jib., VII, 99- 



In Colonial Days. 57 

Minissink country were of the Lenni-Lenape or 
Delaware tribe and the alliance between them and 
the Shawanese, which later became so fateful to the 
English colonists, dates probably from the time of 
their settlement in the valley of the Delaware river. 
Onondagas acquainted the Governor of New York 
in 1 701, that the Waganhaes or Far Nations wanted 
to make peace with the Five Nations, and had ap- 
pointed the "hunting place, called Tiughsaghronde " 
(Detroit) for the meeting. They wanted an agent 
of New York to be present. If none should be sent, 
Dekanisore, the great Sachem of the Onondagas, 
declared, he would never concern himself again in 
public affairs. Lawrence Claese, the Indian inter- 
preter of the Commissioners for Indian Affairs, was 
first sent to look into the matter in hand, and upon 
his report, that a treaty of peace with the Wagan- 
haes was really meant to be negotiated, Captain 
John Bleeker and David Schuyler were sent to 
represent New York at the treaty and tell the 
Five Nations that they must be on their guard at 
Detroit, for Onondaga ought to have been selected 
as the place of meeting, their Long House or Coun- 
cil chamber standing there.* The negotiations at 
Detroit were apparently not quite satisfactory or re- 
sulted only in a truce between the warring tribes, for 
in April, 1709, a message reached the Governor of 
New York from the Five Nations, that four nations 
of the Waganhaes, with whom the New York tribes 

*N. Y. Col. MSS., XLIV, 170. 



58 The Ohio Valley 

had been at war, wanted to make peace and had 
again named the place for a conference. The Five 
Nations remembered the reminder given them on 
the former occasion, refused to go to the place ap- 
pointed by the Far Indians and named places in 
their own territory for the meeting. A New York 
agent was again sent to be present at the meeting, in 
order to secure for the Province free trade with the 
Waganhaes.* Indian peace-treaties seem to have had 
very little binding force and required always ad- 
ditional negotiations. In 1710 the Far Nations 
wanted to come into the Covenant chain, f but a 
year later the Five Nations of New York again in- 
tending to go to war with the Waganhaes, were re- 
fused powder and lead for that purpose, when they 
called for it upon Corlear. We do not know when 
the peace between these warring tribes became final, 
but may presume it was perfected in the following 
decade, as Captain Peter Schuyler, who was sent as 
agent to live among the Indians, received the follow- 
ing instructions in September, 1721: "You are to 
acquaint all the Far Nations, that the road through 
the Five Nations for trade with this Province shall 
be kept open and clean. "J Captain Abraham Schuy- 
ler was sent on the same errand in the following 
year and told to use all means to draw the Far In- 
dians to the Province of New York, by giving them 
notice, that he was settled in the Seneca country for 

*N. Y. Col. MSS., LIII, 56; Council Min., MSS., X, 299. 

fib., 526. 

JN. Y. Council Min., MSS., XIII, 169. 



In Colonial Days. 59 

their ease and encouragement. He was also to 
promise them a free passage through the country of 
the Iroquois.* 

The southern intervales of the Ohio Valley seem to 
have been principally inhabited by the Cherokees or 
Cherakees. Joliet, to whom we owe the first knowl- 
edge of the tribes living along the Mississippi, does 
not mention their name on his map, while Dr. John 
Mitchell says on his map of i 755, the western part of 
Kentucky, " The country of the Cherakees, which 
extends westward to the Mississippi and northward 
to the confines of the Six Nations, was formally sur- 
rendered to the crown of Great Britain at Westmin- 
ster, 1729." Delisle's map of 1707 has "gros vil- 
lages des Cheraquee " on the Cosquinambaux river 
and at the heads of the rivers passing through 
South Carolina on their way to the ocean. The 
" improved " d'Anville map places them near the 
head of the river called after them ; in the German 
edition of d'Anville they are moved to the mouth of 
the Holston river, while Henry Popple has them at 
the sources of the Ganahooche or Apalachicola. A 
map of "Carolina nebst einem Theile von Florida" 
(with a part of Florida), published by the Homans, 
tells us the Cherokees had thirty villages at the 
head of the Cusatzes and ten on that of the Savan- 
nah river. 

* N. Y. Council Minutes, MSS., XIII, 350. 



CHAPTER IV. 
The Beginning of the Struggle for Supremacy. 

The discoveries by the Portuguese in the four- 
teenth and by the Spaniards in the fifteenth century 
made some additions necessary to the international 
law, as it then existed. According to a maxim of the 
civil law (^which said, " quae nullius sunt, in bonis dan- 
tur occupanti "*), the law of premier seisin was now 
introduced and adopted, which gave title to new coun- 
tries to the nation which discovered them, provided 
" that no Christian prince or nation had already taken 
possession of it." England, however, seems to have 
never adopted this principle ; for to them discovery 
without occupancy meant possession. Hakluyt says 
in his " Principal Navigations" (III, 155, London, 
1600): "The first discovery of these coasts, never 
heard of before (of North-America), was well begun 
by Jean Cabot and Sebastian, his son. who were the 
first finders out of all that great tract of land stretch- 
ing from the Cape of Florida unto those islands, 
which we now call the Newfoundland, or which they 
brought and annexed to the crown of England in 
1497." And not long before the American Revolu- 

* What belongs to nobody, is to be given as property to him who possesses 
(occupies) it. 



The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days. 61 

tion Edmund Burke said in his " Account of the 
European Settlements in America:" "We derive 
our rights in America from the discovery of Sebas- 
tian Cabot,* who first made the northern continent 
in 1497. The fact is sufficiently certain to establish 
a right to our settlements in America." 

At the time when Hakluyt wrote the words, quoted 
above, and later, when the English came to establish 
colonies on this continent, nothing was known of the 
vast territory, stretching westward from the Atlantic 
ocean. It has been told in a previous chapter, how 
the country back "of these coasts, never heard of 
before " and then partly held by the English, was dis- 
covered by a Frenchman. His, LaSalle's, further 
discoveries and journey to the Gulf of Mexico con- 
cern us here only so far, as that on the 9th day of 
April, 1682, long before an Englishman had heard of 
his discovery, he took possession, in the name of 
Louis XIV of France, of * ; all the seas, harbors, ports, 
bays, adjacent straits and all the nations, peoples, 
provinces, cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, 
fisheries, streams," within the extent of Louisiana 
from the mouth of the great river St. Louis, other- 
wise called Ohio,f and including the Olighin (Alle- 
ghany), Sipou and Chuckagoua (our present Ohio). 
" On that day," says Parkman in " Discovery of the 
Great West," France received on parchment a stu- 
pendous possession. The fertile plains of Texas, the 

*He ought to have said John Cabot. 

fThis was the Iroquois name for the Mississippi. 



62 The Ohio Valley 

vast basin of the Mississippi, from its frozen northern 
springs to the sultry borders of the gulf, from the 
woody ridges of the Alleghanies to the bare peaks of 
the Rocky mountains, all was declared French domin- 
ion." Part of this vast territory, the northern coun- 
ties of the present State of Ohio, along the south 
shore of Lake Erie, had long before, in 1669, been 
taken possession of for France by the two Sulpitian 
brothers, Dollier de Casson and Gallinay, mentioned 
in a former chapter. 

The discovery of the hitherto unknown country and 
the formal act of declaring it part and parcel of the 
French dominions, ought, according to English cus- 
tom of the day, to have been sufficient, to hold it in- 
violable in times of peace. It is likely that the French, 
suspicious of their English neighbors, tried to follow 
the example set by the Spaniards and Portuguese in 
the preceding century, of concealing their discovery 
of new countries, whence an abundant supply of furs 
and even valuable metals, as copper, could be ob- 
tained, but their attempts to do so proved futile 
within a decade. 

Frontenac, the Governor of Canada, had at an early 
day recognized the importance of a fortified settle- 
ment at the foot of Lake Ontario, as first suggested 
by his predecessor, de Courcelles. He intended by 
it to prevent the Iroquois from carrying to Albany 
the peltries, for which they went to the Ottawas, and 
thus to oblige them to seek a market at Montreal, 
which, he thought, was only just, as they hunted on 



In Colonial Days. 63 

French territory. Thoroughly convinced of the ne- 
cessity of such a step Count Frontenac went to the 
place where the fort* was to be built. " On approach- 
ing the first opening of the lake, the Count wished to 
proceed with more order and in line of battle. He 
accordingly arranged the whole fleet as follows: 

Four squadrons, as vanguard, in front and in one 
line, two batteaus. 

After these came Comte de Frontenac at the head 
of all the canoes of his guards, of his staff and of the 
volunteers attached to his person ; having on his 
right the squadron from Trois Rivieres and on his 
left those of the Hurons and Algonquins."f 

Although this somewhat theatrical mise en scene 
was witnessed by only few members of the Indian 
tribes for whose benefit it was intended, it had the 
desired effect upon the Five Nations, whom Fronte- 
nac had summoned to meet him at Catarakoui, 
for the Indians declared themselves satisfied and 
glad, to have an establishment for trade so near 
their homes. Astute as the children of the forest 
were, they failed to see the ulterior purposes which 
Fort Frontenac was to serve. Four days after Fron- 
tenac had begun negotiations with the Indians, the 
fort was almost ready for its new tenants. A year 
later, when Joliet had returned from his tour of dis- 
covery, which had led him to the Mississippi, the 
Governor could write to his superiors in France : 

* Now Kingston, Canada. 
fN. Y. Col. Hist., IX, 102. 



64 The Ohio Valley 

" Sieur Joliet, whom Monsieur Talon* advised me, 
to dispatch for the discovery of the South sea, re- 
turned three months ago and found some very fine 
countries and a navigation so easy through the 
beautiful rivers, that a person can go from Lake On- 
tario and Fort Frontenac in a bark to the Gulf of 
Mexico, there being only one carrying place, half a 
league in length, where Lake Ontario communicates 
with Lake Erie. A settlement could be made at 
this post. ... He believes that water commu- 
nication could be found leading to the Vermillion 
and California Seas, by means of the river that flows 
from the West." 

Thus was outlined the French policy of the subse- 
quent period, which tended to link together their pos- 
sessions in Louisiana and on the St. Lawrence by a 
chain of forts on the Ohio. The injunction of Louis 
XIV, given to Frontenac in 1676^ not to turn his 
intention to new discoveries without necessity and a 
very great advantage, as it was better to occupy less 
territory and to people it thoroughly, than to have 
feeble colonies of large territorial extents and easily 
destroyed, as well as the same king's order, to keep 
peace with the English, delayed for some time a col- 
lision between the two rival nations. 

If the English had at first remained in ignorance 
of the newly-opened fur market in the west, they 
were soon to be informed of it by Frenchmen. 

*Intendant of Canada. 
fN. Y. Col. Hist., IX, 126. 



In Colonial Days. 65 

Notwithstanding the orders and laws, made by the 
new Intendant, Duchesneau, in 1679, Canadian 
coureurs des bois obtained peltries from the Indians 
and then carried them to the English market. Of 
course, this had to be done stealthily and, therefore, 
the supply could not be a very great one. Afraid 
that the English traders might be prevented access 
to the as yet unknown, but nevertheless promising 
territory, and that consequently her trade, always the 
first consideration in the English mind, might suffer, 
England suddenly saw fit to ignore the maxim of 
international law, established by herself, that " dis- 
covery -establishes title " and although not yet in- 
tending to occupy the territory, covered by a French 
paper title, they boldly invaded it for the purposes 
of trade with the Far Nations, and soon a report 
came to the ears of the French Governor, de Denon- 
ville, that the English intended to have a post on 
Lake Ontario. To counteract the bad effect such 
an English establishment would have on Canada and 
French influences in America he proposed a fort, 
like Frontenac, on Lake Erie and some vessels on 
the lake, which would make the journey to Missili- 
mackinack an easier one and enable the French to 
take the Illinois in hand."* To do this, however, it 
was necessary to subdue the Iroquois. 

Before the French Governor could obtain the 
King's sanction for carrying out his plans, his Eng- 
lish neighbors in New York took steps to extend 

* N. Y. Col. Hist., IX, 282. 



66 The Ohio Valley 

their commercial enterprises. Governor Dongan 
began to issue licenses in the summer of 1686 for 
trading, huntino- and making discoveries to the south- 
west."* Two of these parties, under Captain Rose- 
boom of Albany and Patrick MacGregory, went to 
trade under such licenses with the Ottawawas on 
Lake Huron, where Jesuit missionaries from France 
had established themselves as early as 1634^ We do 
not know which route these intrepid traders took to 
reach their market, but may safely suppose that they 
skirted the Ohio shore of Lake Erie, to avoid en- 
countering French parties on the so-called Ottawa 
route along the Canada shore. Their precaution was, 
however, frustrated and near their destination they 
fell into the hands of the French. In defending this 
invasion of territory, belonging to or claimed by a 
nation with whom his own master was then at peace, 
Governor Dongan claimed, that it was as free for 
the English to trade with the Far Nations, as to the 
French. J His assertion that "the situation of those 
parts bespeaks the King of England to have a better 
right to them, than the French, they lying to the 
south of us, just on the back of other parts of our 
dominions and a very great way from your terri- 
tories," — discloses a lamentable ignorance of geo- 
graphical knowledge among the English. This was 
the first move in the game of chess, for which the 

*N. Y. Col. MSS., XXXIII, itietseq. 

\ Le Jeune, Relation de cequi s'est passe en la Nouvelle France en l'annee 

I635- 
JN. Y. Col. Hist., Ill, 469. 



In Colonial Days. 6 J 

valley of the Ohio furnished one side of the board. 
The epistolary discussion of the affaire MacGre- 
gory drew out some further sentiments from Gover- 
nor Dongan, which throw interesting side lights 
upon the question. "I believe," he says in 1688,* 
"it as lawful for me to send to the Ottawawas, as for 
the Governor of Canada, but think it very unjust in 
Monsieur de Denonville to build a fort at Onyagaro 
or to make war upon the Five Nations, who have 
long been subjects of the King of England. If the 
sheep's fleece be the thing in dispute, pray let the 
King of England have some part of it." That he 
objected to see the friends and allies of the English, 
the Five Nations, disturbed by war, was natural, but at 
the same time he could not overlook the benefit which 
the "sheep's fleece," the trade with the Five Nations 
and others, would bring to his master's pocket. Trade, 
profitable trade above all, by fair or by foul means, 
was evidently the motto of the English of that day. 

On what did the English base their rights to trade 
on so-called French territory? Simply on the treaties 
of friendship, the "covenant-chain," made with the 
Five Nations, which secured to the European 
intruders immunity from Indian invasions, but had 
nothing to say about English traders going beyond 
the territory under the jurisdiction of the Five 
Nations and of their friends or their enemies. Inter- 
national law and comity were of only secondary im- 
portance, when trade was in question. 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., Ill, 528. 



68 The Ohio Valley 

We need not wonder, therefore, that the French 
Governors attempted to protect not only the trade 
of their people, but also the sheep, whom they shore.* 
They kept spies at Albany, who informed them of all 
hunting parties, going to trade with the Far Nations 
and when convenient, French parties were sent after 
them to arrest the Englishmen of the party and if 
possible induce the French coureurs des bois, in 
English pay, to return to Canada, f 

Governor Dongan had learned about 1684, as we 
have seen above, that there was considerable terri- 
tory west of the country known to the English colo- 
nists, perhaps in consequence of a message sent to 
him by Governor de la Barre of Canada, for he 
writes about that time: "I send a map by Mr. 
Spragg.J whereby your Lo ps may see the several 
Governm ts , etc., how they lye where the Beaver hunt- 
ing is & where it will be necessary to erect our 
Country Forts for the securing of Beaver Trade & 
keeping the Indians in community with us. Alsoe it 
points where there's a great River discovered by one 
Lasal, a Frenchman from Canada, who .... brought 
two or three vessels with people to settle there, which 
(if true) will prove very inconvenient to us (the 
River running all along from our Lakes by the Back 
of Virginia and Carolina to the Bay of Mexico."§ 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., IV, 501. 
f lb., 715 et seq. 

% Secretary of the Province. It is to be regretted, that the map is no 
longer in existence or its whereabouts known. 
§ N. Y. Col. Doc, III, 396. 



In Colonial Days. 69 

To assert the English right to the new discoveries, 
made by a Frenchman, he sent the arms of the King 
of England to be set up near Niagara and asked per 
mission to erect a fort there, although he knew, that 
the French claimed the country "as far as Mexico, 
for which they have no other argument, than that 
they have had possession this twenty years by their 
fathers living so long among the Indians." But 
trade required the maintaining of a correspondence 
with the Far Nations and, therefore, the French 
claims could not be considered, even though justified 
by international law. 

In the meantime the French again took possession 
of the settlement at Niagara, which had first been 
established by LaSalle in 1668, and been burnt by 
the Senecas twelve years later. They built a fort 
there in 1687 and manned it, according to an Indian 
report, with 400 men and great guns, while Governor 
Dongan pushed his usurpation of French territory 
so far, as to send men to make themselves masters 
in their King's name of the post at Michilimackinack. 
The Five Nations were not well pleased to see the 
French, the first disastrous meeting with whom un- 
der Champlain in 1609 they never forgot, settle on 
their territory, and were glad to hear Governor Don- 
gan propose an English fort at Cajonhage on the 
Great Lake," but he was overruled by the Indian 
Commissioners, who favored Oswego, at the mouth 
of the Onondaga river. 

* Supposed to be Salmon river, Oswego Co., N. Y. 



jo The Ohio Valley 

Nothing was done. The French abandoned their 
fort at Niagara after a year's occupancy, a disastrous 
war against the Iroquois having shown them, that 
this advanced post could not altogether protect their 
trade to the far west. King William's war drew the 
attention of the English from the subject, and 
nothing was heard of it until about 1699, Robert 
Livingston, Secretary of the New York Commis- 
sioners for Indian Affairs, submitted some observa- 
tions on the decay of the Albany trade, in which he 
was personally interested, to the then Governor of 
New York, Lord Bellomont. He gives as reason 
for this decay the impoverished state of the inhabit- 
ants, brought about by the late war and the French 
intrigues among the Far Indians, by which they are 
kept constantly on the warpath against the Five 
Nations of New York. As a remedy and tonic for 
the drooping trade he advises, that New York should 
endeavor to negotiate a peace between these warring 
tribes, which would enable Englishmen to trade 
again to the west and increase his Majesty's revenues. 
This could be done, he suggests, by sending a party 
of 200 white men, natives of the Colonies and as such 
good woodsmen, with 300 to 400 Iroquois to make a 
fort at Wawayachtenock (now Detroit) and " so pro- 
ceed to the respective Far Nations, who will undoubt- 
edly receive them, although the French are there 
among them and have a pretended sort of possession 
by a laying a Jesuit and some few men in a small fort ; 
for wherever a Frenchman has once set his foot, he 



In Colo?iial Days. 71 

claims a right and title to the country." After the 
peace had been made between the Iroquois and the 
Dowaeanhaes, Twisjhtwees, Ottawas and other Far 
Indians, all these tribes will resort to Albany to dis- 
pose of their furs, and the trade there will be in- 
creased tenfold, while now the French deprive the 
English of it by their frivolous pretenses of subduing 
those Far Nations and converting them to the Chris- 
tian faith.* Livingston, the son of a minister of the 
gospel, ought to have known the biblical parable of 
the beam in his own eye and the mote in that of his 
neighbor, for he proposes to do, what he reprimands 
the French for having done ; the English claimed the 
whole continent, not because their seamen had first 
trodden upon its soil, but because they had first seen 
it. 

Lord Bellomont approved of building a fort in the 
Onondaga country. He foresaw, that the French 
designed first to annihilate the Iroquois, which could 
easily be done under the dilatory policy of the Brit- 
ish government, and then with the help of the west- 
ern Indians to drive all the English into the ocean, f 
and the next year, 1 700, he suggested a fort at the 
mouth of the Onondaga river, thus adopting the 
formerly expressed plan of the more experienced In- 
dian commissioners. This fort at Oswego would se- 
cure the rivers, by which the French had obtained 
access to the Seneca country in 1687, while it would 

* N. Y. Col. Hist., IV, 500. 
t lb., 505- 



7 2 The Ohio Valley 

enable the Dowaganhaes and other western tribes, at 
war with the Five Nations, to come and trade with 
the English in spite of their Iroquois enemies.* 
Again nothing was done. Jealous of the increasing 
power of the Bourbons, King William III declared 
war against Spain and France, both countries under 
kings of the Bourbon family. His death shortly 
after the declaration of war did not bring peace, and 
Queen Anne's war, as it was called after his succes- 
sor, lasted for eleven years, to 1713. The waves of 
the bloody contest did not reach the shores of Lakes 
Ontario and Erie, but all suggested enterprises in 
that direction were laid aside, and the English colon- 
ists of the last century, as well as their descendants, 
can congratulate themselves, that the allies at war 
against France found so much employment for Louis 
XIV, that he could send neither men nor money to 
prosecute his plans in America. 

The Treaty of Utrecht, which ended this war in 
1 713, by its fifteenth article meant to settle the dis- 
puted questions concerning the boundaries between 
the French and the English in the west. It said : 
" The subjects of France, inhabiting Canada, shall 
hereafter give no hindrance or molestation to the 
Five Nations or Cantons of Indians subject to the 
dominion of Great Britain, nor to the other natives 
of America, who are friends to the same. In like 
manner the subjects of Great Britain shall behave 
themselves peaceably to the Americans, who are sub- 

* N. Y. Col. Hist., IV, 717. 



In Colonial Days. 73 

jects or friends to France, and on both sides they 
shall enjoy full liberty on account of trade, as also 
the natives of those countries shall with the same 
liberty resort as they please to the British or French 
colonies for promoting trade on the one or the other, 
without any molestation or hindrance either on the 
part of the British subjects or the French, but it is to 
be exactly and distinctly settled by commissaries, who 
are and who ought to be accounted the subjects and 
friends of Britain and of France." 

Eight years later the English Lords of Trade and 
Plantations admitted in a memorial on the American 
plantations,* that " the French territories extend from 
the mouth of the River St. Lawrence to the embou- 
chure of the Mississippi, forming one continued line 
from north to south on the back of your Majesty's 
plantations, and although their garrisons in many 
parts are hitherto but very inconsiderable, yet as they 
have, by the means of their missionaries, debauched 
several of the Indian nations to their interest, your 
Majesty's subjects along the continent have the ut- 
most danger to apprehend from the new settlement 
(on the Mississippi), unless timely care be taken to 
prevent their increase." 

At the same time they concede the discovery of the 
inland communication between Canada and the Gulf 
of Mexico to French enterprise, but consider it a " very 
late discovery," fifty years after it had been made, and 
in the succeeding paragraphs of their memorial they 

* N. Y. Col. Doc, V, 620. 

10 



74 The Ohio Valley 

describe the routes taken by the French, as if they 
had only just heard of them. But had this matter of 
discovering new countries, they think, been sooner 
considered, then undoubtedly the English colonists 
would have been the first to make them, for the British 
colonies are so much more convenient to the lakes 
than Canada. One such attempt to discover new 
territory, that of General Wood of Virginia, in 1671, 
has already been mentioned ; Governor Spotswood, 
also of Virginia, sent another equally unsuccessful 
exploring expedition to the west in 1710,* and 
started in person with a large retinue in 1716 " over 
the great mountains, to satisfy myself whether it 
was practicable to come at the lakes. Having on 
that occasion found an easy passage over that great 
ridge of mountains, which were before judged impas- 
sable, I also discovered by the relation of Indians, 
who frequent those parts, that from the pass, where 
I was, it is but three days' march to a great Nation of 
Indians living on a river, which discharges itself in 
the Lake Erie."f Which great river Governor 
Spotswood can mean, we must leave to the inter- 
preter of English geography in the eighteenth century. 
He calls it the River Mic, three miles from the River 
Occabacke, going into the Mississippi. Neither of 
these names appear on any map, and though it may 
be thought, that Occabacke stands for Ouabache, 
Governor Spotswood certainly did not get within 

* Spotswood Letters, I, 42. 
t lb., II, 295. 



In Colonial Days. 75 

three days' march of the head-waters of the Ohio. 
Thus much for Colonial British enterprise in dis- 
covering new territory. He advises a settlement on 
Lake Erie in order to entitle the English to a right 
of possession, for the French could not dispute such 
a title which the law of nations gives to the first oc- 
cupant. It is evident the law of nations had a hard 
time of it among English statesmen of the last cen- 
tuty. 

Before Governor Spotswood had recommended this 
simple way of obtaining possession of a new coun- 
try, the English seem to have adopted this plan, for 
already in 1715 Father Louis Marie de Ville, mis- 
sionary among the Peorias, and Sieur de Vincenne, 
a trader among the western Indians, write, that 
the English of Carolina have recourse to every expe- 
dient to attract the southern Indians by means of 
the Iroquois; and Sieur Bezon, a French official, re- 
ports, that Father Jacques Marmet, missionary at 
Kaskaskias, Illinois, tells about the encroachments of 
the English in the Rivers Ouabache and Mississippi, 
where they are building three forts. * 

A few years after the peace of 1 71 3, the French 
saw again how necessary for their plans the close 
friendship of the Iroquois was. This was the only 
nation of Indians, where they never had been able 
to obtain, through their courtly manners and cajo- 
leries, the footing, which first the Dutch, and later 
the English had had, notwithstanding their somewhat 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., IX, 931. 



boorish and bluff b ig The Iroquois were them- 

s es too much a people of the rough warrior type 
to appi sra thness of manners and. besides, 

had other reasons for disliking the French. The lat- 
ter, nevertheless, managed to procure the Senecas" 
permission, in 171 7. to build a trading-house at Iron- 
dequat,* on the New York side oi Lake Ontario, and 
a fort, called Fort des 5a s, from which places 
they supplied the New York Indians with powder and 

id for their - igainst the Flatheads (Cherokees) 
and thereby obtained a large quantity of peltry, in- 
tended for the English market. They appear to 
have sc scovered that the Treaty of Utrechtdid 

I allow them such an usurpation, for the trea 
made by New York with the Five Nations, in 1701. 
placed this locality under English protection, and in 
1720. before the treaty of 1726 had confirmed the 

1 701, the Indians acknowledged, at a coni 

ence with the Governor of Xew York, that they had 

en this place, as well as Trongsarcende (Detroit), 

Onjagera I Niagara and all other hunting places, to 

the Cr England, to be held for them and their 

sterity. lest others might encroach upon them. 
The municipal officers of Albany. N. Y.. all more or 
less directly interested in active Indian trade, saw now 
an opportunity to revive the trade, which had given 
to their city such an important place among the com- 

* Known bv the nan . - _ rataqaat, Oniada- 

rondaqaatt, Orondokott, Terondoc :ndequot, and sixteen others, 

. N. V. Col. Doc. 



In Colonial Days. 77 

mercial centres of the day. They urged, that New 
York Colony should now build a fort at Tieronde- 
quat, and another at Oniagara, to keep the Five Na- 
tions steady in the British interest, and to clear the 
path for the more remote nations, from whom more 
peltries were now obtained, than from the Iroquois, 
whose hunting grounds in New York had become 
depleted of fur-bearing animals. The Assembly of 
New York readily understood the urgency of the 
case, and at their next session made an appropriation 
of ,£500 ($1,250) for securing the Indians in the 
English interest, which Governor Burnet devoted 
chiefly to erect buildings, and make a settlement at 
Tierondequat ; he garrisoned this place by consent 
of the Indians with a company of ten men. New 
York statesmen had become fully alive to the im- 
portance of doing something for the trade of their 
constituents, probably because their own pockets 
suffered by the general depression. In the year 
before granting the above-quoted small sum they had 
passed a law, to prohibit trading with the French in 
Indian goods, for which Albany too had been a 
famous place and which were readily purchased by the 
French, because with goods bought in the English 
provinces, they could supply the Far Nations at easier 
terms, than with Quebec importations. But by so 
doing they saved to these Far Nations the long 
marches to Albany, and no peltries consequently 
came to New York for the European trade. This 
trade with the French had assumed such dimensions, 



78 The Ohio Valley 

that the Indians would reproach New York with it 
saying, the French were building their forts with New 
York goods. Cadwallader Colden,* in his Memoir 
on the Fur Trade, dated November, 1 724,+ says about 
this commercial intercourse with Canada : " In the 
time of the last war the clandestine trade to Montreal 
began to be carried on by the Indians from Albany 
to Montreal. This gave rise to the Konuaga (Cana- 
wagha) or praying Indians,^ who are entirely made 
up of deserters from the Mohawks and River Indians 
and were either enticed by the French priests or by 
our merchants in order to carry goods from Albany 
to Montreal, or run away from some mischief done 
here .... They depend chiefly upon this 
private trade for their subsistence ; these Indians in 
time of war gave the French intelligence of all designs 
here against them. By them likewise the French 
engaged our Five Nations in a war with the Indians 
friends of Virginia, and from them we might expect 
the greatest mischief in time of war, seeing every part 
of the Province is as well known to them as to any 
of the inhabitants. But if this trade were entirely at 
an end, we have reason to believe that these Indians 
would return to their own tribes, for they then could 
not long subsist where they now are." 

We see that the above-mentioned act of 1721 to 
prohibit the trade in India'n goods with the French 
was to serve two purposes, but according to Golden 

* Surveyor-General, later Lieutenant-Governor of New York. 

f N. Y. Col. Hist., V, 732. 

\ Still living in their descendants at the place indicated above. 



In Colonial Days. 79 

it had not yet quite stopped this now illegal trade in 
1724, and the Caghnawaga Indians steering the 
steamers through the La Chine rapids above Mon- 
treal are still an interesting side show for the traveler 
on the St. Lawrence. 

The English trading house at Irondequat appa- 
rently did not produce the effect expected from it, for 
in May, 1725, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor of 
Canada, was startled by the report, that the English 
had projected a settlement at the mouth of the 
Choueguen (Onondaga or Oswego) river, on the 
banks of Lake Ontario and inconveniently near the 
French post at Niagara. He and his advisers had 
always considered this part of New York as belong- 
ing to their King,* and they clearly understood the 
difficulty of preserving Niagara, the loss of which 
would render a trade with the Far Indians an impos- 
sibility. Various efforts were made by the French 
to prevent this as yet only projected fort at Choue- 
guen, but the only satisfaction which they could 
obtain was, that the Senecas would not allow them 
to build a fort at Niagara or anywhere else on their 
land, f and in 1727, Governor Burnet of New York was 
in the position to report, J that he had sent workmen, 
to build a stone house of strength at a place called 
Oswego, at the mouth of the Onondaga river. He 
thought the French could have no just pretense of 
preventing it, but their lately building a fort at Nia- 

* N. Y. Col. Hist., IX, 949. 
t lb-, V, 787. 
% lb., V, 818. 



80 The Ohio Valley 

gara, contrary to the last treaty, had cautioned him 
to be on his guard against attacks from them. The 
pen, which is so often called mightier than the sword, 
was in this case also slower, for the diplomatists of 
neither nation had as yet given satisfactory explana- 
tions of the boundaries, as fixed by the Treaty of 
Utrecht. Burnet claimed, that it did not allow the 
French to build a fort at Niagara, and Beauharnois, 
the Governor of Canada, looked upon the settlement 
at Oswego as a manifest infraction of the same 
treaty.* Nevertheless both were built and the two 
rival nationalities made a step nearer to the point, 
where of necessity they must converge with clashing 
interests. 

The staunch friendship, which had hitherto united 
the Iroquois to the British interest, prevented the 
breaking out of the conflict at this time. Urged by 
Lieutenant-Governor Clarke of New York at a con- 
ference in July, 1737, they agreed not to allow the 
French to build a fort at Irondequat,f but neither could 
he obtain that permission for the English. Writing 
about it to the Lords of Trade in February, 1738, J 
he draws a rather dark picture of the situation : " If 
I fail in the attempt to obtain leave from the Six 
Nations to build a house at Tierondequat, and if the 
French succeed in getting it, then adieu to Oswego 
and all our fur trade, for Tierondequat will cut off 
entirely our western fur trade, and what the conse- 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., V, 827. 
+ lb., VI, 107. 
Jib., VI, 112. 



Iii Colonial Days. 81 

quences will be to England your Lordships well 
know, nor is the loss of our trade all that we are to 
apprehend, for with it we shall lose the Six Nations. 
It is with much difficulty and at a great annual 
expense to this Province in time of peace, without 
any assistance from our neighbors, that we have and 
now still retain the fidelity of the Six Nations, who 
with us in time of a French war are the only barrier 
to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia 
and Carolina." 

Negotiations for the permission to build a fort at 
Irondequat continued to 1738, the Assembly of 
New York appropriated ^100 ($250) for the pur- 
chase of ground, required for it, and at last Governor 
Clarke obtained a deed from the Iroquois in 1741. 
The fort, however, was never built, as fear of a 
French war prevented a settlement ; for as the human 
body, affected by rheumatism, feels in advance a 
coming rainstorm, so has the body politic a forebod- 
ing of a disturbance in the circulation of its commer- 
cial and agricultural veins. Three years after Tene- 
hokaiwee, Tewassajes and Staghreche, the principal 
Sachems of the Senecas, had signed the deed for the 
transfer to the English of Irondequat and surround- 
ing country, twenty miles, along the lake and thirty 
miles to the south of it,* King George's war filled 
the minds of the English colonists with other 
thouo-hts than those of settling in the far Indian 
country. 

* N. Y. Col. MSS., Indian Treaties. 
11 



82 The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days. 

The boundaries between the French and English 
possessions on this continent had not yet been fixed, 
thirty years after the Utrecht Treaty had provided, 
that it should be done. The English based their 
titles to land principally upon the purchases from 
the Indians, and on this principle the Governor of 
Pennsylvania, with commissioners from Virginia and 
Maryland, acquired at the Indian treaty of Lancaster 
in 1744, "all the territory which is or may be within 
the limits of the Colony of Virginia, according to his 
Majesty's order." The French looked upon this 
purchase with unqualified distrust and resented this 
invasion of what they claimed as their territory, by a 
declaration of war in March, 1 744, which waged until 
1748, but left the lake country again undisturbed. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE CONTEST BETWEEN THE TEUTONIC AND THE LATIN 
RACES TRANSFERRED TO THE OHIO VALLEY. 

From Champlain to Montcalm the French, by 
diplomacy and religion, by threats and by flatteries, 
and by all the resources of Gallic wit, address and 
force, had endeavored to gain over the Iroquois to 
their king and cause ; but ever loyal to the covenant, 
made in early colonial days, with the Dutch at 
Albany and confirmed upon the surrender of New 
Netherland to the English, they adhered to the Teu- 
tonic race. They stood as a stone wall, a break- 
water, keeping off the storm and tide of French 
aggression and assisted the English colonies, who 
nourished the Indians' strength to win from the 
Gaul and from Latin ideas of civilization, what are 
now some of the most important States of the 
Union. 

Oswego was soon in a position to threaten the 
French trade at Niagara with complete annihilation. 
The following report, made by the Commissary at 
Oswego in I 749, tells us, that nearly one-third of the 
Indians, intending to come to Oswego, had been 
intercepted and forcibly detained at Niagara, and 



8 4 



The Ohio Valley 



yet the number of those who reached Oswego is 
considerable. 



Names of each Nation. 



Wayactenacks 

Potawimmies 

Miamis 

Missassagas 

Monomunies 

Michilimackimaks 

Oroonducks 

Shepavvees 

Cocknawagas and Shoenidies . 
French Traders 



c -z. 
I 5 



39 
20 
11 

25 
10 

9 
1 

3 2 

43 

3 



193 



3i8 
160 

88 
200 

80 

72 

8 

256 

344 

3<> 



1,562 



2 93 
140 

77 

i75 

70 

63 

7 

224 

301 

35 



1,385 



He computes the value of each pack at £14, which 
gives for the whole number of packs from the Far 
Nations, 1,349, the amount of ,£18,886,* or $47,215, 
as probably pounds, New York currency, are given. 

The French, having discovered, how futile their 
attempts were to break the covenant chain between 
Corlear, or rather Quidor, and the Iroquois, and see- 
ing that the fort at Oswego not only interfered with 
their trade at, but also threatened the very existence 
of Niagara, tried to counteract this injurious effect 
by establishments at Presqu'ile (now Erie, Penna.), 
* N. Y. Col. Hist., vi, 538. 



In Colonial Days. 85 

French creek,* and Venango, which appear as mili- 
tary posts on d'Anville's map of "Amerique Septen- 
trionale " in 1 746, and thus entered the valley of the 
Ohio with territorial and no longer purely commer- 
cial intentions. To this end the Marquis de la Galis- 
soniere, Governor of Canada, sent in 1 749, Captain 
Bienville de Celoron to take once more possession of 
the Ohio country for the King of France. His letter 
to Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania, dated 
" From our Camp on the Beautiful River, at an old 
Shawnee Village," shows, that the act was to be un- 
derstood not as a mere formality, for he came with 
troops and drove out all the English traders in the 
country. " We, Celoron, Captain, Knight of the 
Military Order of St. Louis," said he,f " commanding 
a detachment sent by the Marquis de la Galissoniere, 
Governor-in-chief of New France, have on the banks 
of the Beautiful River summoned the Englishmen, 
whom we have found in an Indian town, situate on 
the bank of the Beautiful River, to retire with all 
their effects and baggage to New England on pain 
of being treated as interlopers and rebels in case of 
refusal ; to which summons they have answered, that 
they were going to start for Philadelphia, their coun- 
try, with all their effects." 

The Indians on the Ohio were told by him, that 
the French were again coming to trade with them 
and that he was going with his soldiers to chastise 

* Riviere aux Boeufs of old maps. 

f N. Y. Col. Doc, VI, 132; Penn. Col. Records. V, 425. 



86 The Ohio Valley 

the Twightwees and Wyandots for trading with the 
English. The Indians were not pleased with this 
announcement. They declared, that the land was 
their own and that while there were any Indians in 
those parts, they would trade with their brothers, the 
English. The threat of whipping the Twightwees 
was considered by them as a jest.* Celoron, how- 
ever, left a memorial of his visit and of his act of tak- 
ing possession all along his route down the Ohio, in 
the shape of leaden plates, of which several are still 
in existence, f 

Mr. Charles P. Keith, of Philadelphia, tells, in an 
article on Sir William Keith, J of the first project, to 
make the newly-discovered country of use to the 
English. He says: 

"Chief Justice Marshall's ' Life of Washington,' 
attributes to Sir William Keith the conception of 
the project of taxing America by Act of Parlia- 
ment. It was suggested by him some time before 
the Spanish War, as the means of providing for the 
common defense of the Colonies, and as such it was 
urged by a company having interests there, or a 
' Club of Americn Merchants,' of which he was a 
member, probably the Ohio Company. The propo- 
sition, as embodied in the two papers on the sub- 
ject, emanating from this source, and supposed to 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., VI, 533. 

f Fac-similes are given in the Pennsylvania Archives, 2d series, VI, 80 ; 
see, also, for accounts of them, Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe, I, 62, and 
Dinwiddie Papers, I, 95. 

\ Penn. Mag. of History and Biography, April, 1888. 



In Colonial Days. 87 

have been written by him, was to raise and maintain 
a military force for the protection of the British col- 
onies, and to establish a general council of their 
Governors to assist the Commander-in-Chief, and to 
defray the expense by stamp duties similar to those 
in England, supposed to be the easiest method of 
taxation. These were to be imposed by Parliament 
because the several Assemblies ' never could be 
brought in voluntarily to raise such a Fund by any 
general and equally proportioned Tax among them- 
selves.' Coxe's ' Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole ' 
(page 753), saying that soon after the excise scheme, 
which failed in 1733, Sir William Keith, 'who had 
been deputy-governor of Virginia (sic), came over 
with a plan of an American tax,' then relates, on the 
authority of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, that Lord 
Chesterfield, having asked Walpole what he thought 
of it, Walpole replied, ' I have old England set 
against me, and do you think I will have new Eng- 
land likewise?' Yet, it is probable that, had the 
plan then been carried into execution, with as popu- 
lar an official as Sir William for stamp-master, which 
he may have hoped to be, it would not have had the 
same consequences as a quarter of a century later, 
when the Colonies had become more powerful and 
more warlike, and the proceeds of the tax were to go 
into the British treasury. Years after the death of 
the subject of this sketch some of his ideas were 
acted upon by the British government, and the two 
papers were reprinted for its vindication as the senti- 



88 The Ohio Valley 

ments 'of the greatest friends to America.' In let- 
ters to John Adams, written in 1813, Thomas Mc- 
Kean says, 'The Congress at Albany in 1754 . . . 
was ... in reality to propose the least offensive 
plan for raising a revenue in America. In 1739, Sir 
William Keith, a Scotch gentleman, who had been a 
Lieutenant-Governor of Pennsylvania, proposed such 
an assembly to the ministry. He also proposed the 
extension of the British stamp duties to the Colonies. 
He was then, I believe, in the Fleet prison. The 
hints he gave were embraced, the first in 1 754, the 
second in 1764.' (Works of John Adams, vol. X, p. 
j^, edit. 1856.) ' 'The anecdote of Sir William 
Keith's proposal to the British ministry is to be 
found in the latter end of the first volume of Ameri- 
can tracts, printed by J. Almon, in London, 1767. 
It had been published in London in 1739, and is 
titled 'A proposal for establishing by act of Parlia- 
ment the duties upon stamped paper and parchment 
in all the British Colonies.' Part of the anecdote I 
had by tradition, and in a novel, ' Peregrine Pickle.' 
(Ibid., p. 80.) " 

About this time* John Hanbury, a Quaker mer- 
chant of London, Thomas Lee of the Virginia Coun- 
cil, Lawrence and Augustus Washington, brothers 
of George, and others, obtained from the Crown a 
grant of 500,000 acres of land in the present Jeffer- 
son and Columbiana counties of Ohio, and Brooke 
county of West Virginia. The principal object of 

* See Appendix D. 



In Colonial Days. 89 

this company, called the Ohio Company, was trade 
with the Indians, for we may call the plans of 
colonizing the country west of the Alleghany moun- 
tains an after-thought, although their patent de- 
manded, that 200,000 acres of the grant should be 
settled within a few years. The troubles with the 
French and the Indians suspended the operations of 
the company until the close of the war. Intrigues, 
started by counteracting interests, caused an unau- 
thorized merger of the Ohio Company into the Wal- 
pole or Grand Company, and while the shareholders 
of the former were still protesting against this action 
of their London agent, the War of the Revolution 
broke out and put out of existence both companies.* 
This started the " boom," to use a modern expres- 
sion, for western lands. The Governor and Council 
of Virginia granted, July 12, 1749, leave to John 
Lewis, Thomas Walker and others, to take up and 
survey 800,000 acres, in one or more surveys, begin- 
ning on the boundary line between Virginia and North 
Carolina, and running west and north. This " Loyal 
Company " was also prevented by the events of the 
succeeding years from carrying out the necessary 
surveys, and obtained in June, 1753, an order extend- 
ing the time for a return of surveys. They could 
now begin operations and actually sold several par- 
cels of 100 acres at ,£3. War again interfered in 
1 754, and when in 1 763 the company petitioned for a 
renewal and confirmation of their grant, the authori- 

* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 17. 



90 The Ohio Valley 

ties of Virginia were of opinion, that the King's in- 
structions restrained them from granting such renewal. 

One hundred thousand acres of land on Green- 
briar river,* north-west and west of the " Cow-Pas- 
ture " and Newfoundland were granted to the Green- 
briar Company, October 29, 1 75 i.-f- Their opera- 
tions were likewise brought to a standstill in 1 754, 
by the breaking out of the war, after they had already 
succeeded in selling several tracts of land. The royal 
proclamation of December 16, 1763, prohibiting the 
settlement or grant of any lands on the western 
waters, suspended the undertaking until 1773, when 
the Governor and Council of Virginia, considering 
the grant to the company still in force, allowed the 
surveys and settlements to be resumed. 

The French looked with jealousy upon this new 
English interpretation of the international maxim of 
premier seisin, that first discovery, even without oc- 
cupation, should establish title. The remarkable 
claim, that Englishmen from Connecticut had dis- 
covered the Ohio valley,J had not yet been made 
public, but we see that the English authorities dis- 
posed of lands there without hesitation. French 
travelers had called the attention of their govern- 
ment and countrymen long ago to the importance of 
the greatwater-way which facilitated the communi- 
cation between Canada and Louisiana.§ " A free 

* A tributary of the Great Kanawha, 
f Call, Virginia Reports, IV, 21 et seq. 
% See Appendix C. 
§ Charlevoix, VI, 157. 



In Colonial Days, 91 

and certain passage," says Governor de la Gallison- 
ni&re of Canada in a Memoir of December, 1 750,* 
" from Canada to the Mississippi, is an absolute neces- 
sity. This chain once broken would leave an open- 
ing, of which the English would doubtless take ad- 
vantage, to get nearer to the silver mines. * 
The Governors of Canada have been deterred from 
making settlements there, fearing contraband trade 
between French traders and the English. Neither 
have the English any posts there, nor did they come 
to trade, except clandestinely, until the last war, when 
the revolt of some neighboring nations against the 
French encouraged them to come more boldly. They 
have been summoned since the peace, to retire, and 
if they do not do so, force must be used, otherwise 
the case would be the same as at Chouegen,+ and 
that would be still more disastrous; for a post on the 
Ohio would possess more opportunities to do dam- 
age than Chouegen alone. 

1. They would have much greater opportunities 
there than at Chouegen, to seduce the Indian nations. 

2. They would possess more facilities to interrupt 
the communication between Canada and Louisiana, 
for the Beautiful river affords almost the only route 
for the conveyance from Canada to the River Missis- 
sippi of detachments capable of securing that still 
feeble Colony against the incursions of the neighbor- 
ing Carolina Indians, whom the English are un- 
ceasingly exciting against the French. 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., X, 229. 
\ Oswego, N. Y. 



92 The Ohio Valley 

3. If the English ever become strong - enough in 
America to dare attempt the conquest of Mexico, it 
will be by this Beautiful river, which they must ne- 
cessarily descend." 

The English did not dare to take immediate pos- 
session of the Ohio country, although as yet only few 
French troops were there* to defend it, and did not 
move at all, notwithstanding they received warnings 
from different sources. Captain Marshall, command- 
ing at Albany, received notice in 1 749, and trans- 
mitted it to his superiors, that an army of nearly 
1,000 Frenchmen were moving toward the Ohio, 
in order to prevent the English from settling there.* 
Almost a year later, April, 1750, Sir William Johnson 
writes : " The French have had ever since the peace 
officers and interpreters with great quantities of goods 
for presents to all the foreign nations, but much more 
at the settlements of Indians on the Ohio, than any- 
where else."f Even the warning given a few weeks 
later, that the French have made an alliance with 
western tribes and intend to destroy the Indians on 
the Ohio, who are in the British interest,^ had no 
effect upon either New York or Pennsylvania, the 
Colonies most affected by such a move. Governor 
Clinton of New York thought it prudent to send the 
Indians, adherents of the English, some powder to 
defend themselves, but the Council would not hear of 
it and nothing was done. The home government was 

* N. Y. Col. MSS., Council Minutes, XXI, 354. 
t lb. 375. 
% lb. 380. 



In Colonial Days. 93 

equally inactive and paid no or very little attention 
to Governor Clinton's letter of the 1st of October, 
1751, in which he said : "If the French go on in this 
manner without obstruction or any thing done on our 
part, to secure us and the Indians in friendship with 
us, the French in a little time must obtain an abso- 
lute influence over all the Indian nations on the Con- 
tinent ; and a vessel of such force [as the French 
were said to be building on Lake Ontario] will be 
sufficient to dispossess us of Oswego."* Charles 
Townshend, one of the Lords of Trade and Planta- 
tions, was a better statesman than his colleagues, but 
he could not induce them to advocate in Council his 
plan of aggressive measures in taking possession of 
the Ohio region by force. 

The French were not so dilatory. They sent one 
of their most astute Indian agents, Chabert de Jon- 
caire, to the Ohio in 1750, to build a house at the 
carrying place between Lake Erie and the Ohio, 
where all western Indians should be supplied with 
whatever goods they might need, and thus be saved 
the long journey to Oswego. f In the following year 
four English traders were taken prisoners by the 
French for trading on the Ohio contrary to an ordi- 
nance of the Governor of Canada, although it was 
claimed, on the English side, the country belonged to 
the Six Nations and Twightwees, allied to the Eng- 
lish by a covenant chain for a long time past. J There 

* N. Y. Col. Hist., VI, 538. 
t lb. 609. 
X lb. 735- 



94 The Ohio Valley 

was some talk of reprisals, but competent authorities 
declared it inconsistent with the laws of nations, while 
peace reigned between the two rival nations.* 

In the same year George Croghan, Indian agent, 
and, through many years of trading among the In- 
dians, well acquainted with the territory and its condi- 
tions, was sent by the Governor of Pennsylvania to 
the Ohio, with presents for the Indians. In one of 
the speeches which he proposed to make, but had to 
submit to the Governor for approval before starting 
out on his journey, it was " strongly expressed " that 
Pennsylvania should build a fort on the Ohio for the 
protection of the Indian trade from insults and injuries 
by the French. The Governor did not approve of 
it and ordered Croghan first to sound the Indians on 
this subject. Scaroyadi, the Half King, and his 
friends and advisers in the tribe, were willing to have 
such a representation of English protection in their 
country and had wished for it ever since Celoron's 
expedition in 1749, when the proceedings of the 
French did not all meet favor in the Indian eyes. 
They designated the forks of the Monongahela as 
the best place for such an establishment. However, 
when Croghan reported the result of his negotia- 
tions, the government of Pennsylvania did not 
approve, and again nothing was done, because it was 
thought the Six Nations would not allow the erec- 
tion of a trading house at the indicated place, 
although Scaroyadi had been able to tell Croghan, 

* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 17. 



In Colonial Days. 95 

that such an establishment had been agreed upon by 
his tribe and the Long House at Onondaga, that is 
the Supreme Council of the Iroquois.* 

The Council of Virginia was of all the English 
authorities on the Continent the first to make a move, 
although a very insignificant one. The English gov- 
ernment had sent over a present to be made to the Six 
Nations, and the Council advised Governor Dinwiddie 
to deliver it with all due ceremony, expecting to make 
a favorable impression on the natives. + Commis- 
sioners were appointed to meet the Indians at 
Loggstown, % and after the presents had been handed 
over and evidently approved by the recipients, the 
request for building a fort in the same place as des- 
ignated before, was renewed, but, says Croghan, to 
no effect. 

Celoron's report of what he had seen in 1 749 had 
in the meantime worked on the minds of his country- 
men. They understood the importance of securing 
a foothold at the junction of the Ohio and Monon- 
gahela so well, that Governor Dinwiddie wrote in 
February, 1753, with some alarm, about some fifteen 
or sixteen Frenchmen, arrived at Loggs Town and 
building houses, etc., there, and "that it is to be 
feared they will take possession of the Ohio, oppress 
our trade and take our traders prisoners, etc. We 
would fain hope these people are only French 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., VII, 268-9. 
\ Dinwiddie Papers, I, 17. 
% Near Pittsburg, Penna. 



96 The Ohio Valley 

traders, and they have no other view but trade."* 
This trading post at Loggstown was, however, only 
the link, stretched out farthest, of the antenna, 
which the French army worm threw out as a feeler. 
In May, 1753, the commandant at Oswego saw thirty 
French canoes, part of an army going to Ohio, pass 
his post, who were to make good the French claim 
upon that region, but as war had not been declared 
between the two nations, he could not interfere, even 
though one of these French told him, that M. 
Marin was coming with 6,000 men to the Ohio, in 
order to settle the boundaries between his nation 
and the English, that the French laid claim to all 
lands on any rivers or creeks running into the great 
lakes ; that one fort was to be built at Ka-sa-no-tia- 
yo-ga (a carrying place), another at Diontaroga. 
Five hundred Cochnawagas, Scenondidies, Onogan- 
gas, Oroondoks and Chenundies went with this 
French detachment, not to fight the English but to 
supply the French with the results of their chase, f 
and thus answer Governor Dinwiddie's question in 
the above quoted letter, of how the French would 
subsist their army so far from their base of supply. 
The Senecas, Cayugas and Shawnees looked upon 
this movement of the French with distrust ; they 
did not want them to build forts on the Ohio, upon 
which they looked as their property.^ and notified 

* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 22. 

f N. Y. Col. MSS, LXXVII, 87. 

Jib. 143. 



In Colonial Days. 97 

the Indian Commissioners of New York that they had 
resolved to go to war against the French, and desired 
the co-operation of the whole of their confederacy. 
Of the three English Colonies, whose special inter- 
est it was to keep the French out of the Ohio terri- 
tory, New York did nothing, while Pennsylvania and 
Virginia quarreled about the boundary line to the 
westward. Governor Dinwiddie writes to Cresap 
and Trent in February, 1 753*: " Till the line between 
Pennsylvania is run and our limits ascertained, I 
cannot restrain the many abuses done in the back- 
woods, as by the last treaty at the Ohio. The 
Indians having given us full power to settle all the 
lands this side of the Ohio, I conceive that the treaty 
fully establishes the British right to those lands, there- 
fore some method must be found out to dispossess 
the French, if they presume to oppose our settle- 
ments." In the following year he commenced build- 
ing a fort, where now stands the city of Pittsburgh, 
and issued the following proclamation : 

Virginia, ss. 

By the Hon. Robert Dinwiddie, Esq ; 
His Majesty's Lieutenant-Governor, and Comman- 
der-in-Chief of this Dominion. 

A PROCLAMATION, 

For Encouraging Men to enlist in His Majesty's Ser- 
vice for the Defence and Security of this Colony. 
WHEREAS it is determined that a Fort be im- 

* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 22 and 23. 
13 



98 The Ohio Valley 

mediately built on the River Ohio, at the Fork of 
Manongakela, to oppose any further Encroachments, 
or hostile Attempts of the French, and the Indians 
in their Interest, and for the Security and Protection 
of his Majesty's Subjects in this Colony ; and as it is 
absolutely necessary that a sufficient Force should 
be raised to erect and support the same : For an 
Encouragement to all who shall voluntarily enter 
into the said Service, I do hereby notify and promise, 
by and with the Advice and Consent of his Majesty's 
Council of this Colony, that over and above their 
Pay. Two Hundred Thousand Acres, of his Majestys 
the King of Great Britains Lands, on the East Side 
of the River Ohio, within this Dominion, (One 
Hundred Thousand Acres whereof to be contiguous 
to the said Fort, and the other Hundred Thousand 
Acres to be on. or near the River Ohio) shall be laid 
off and granted to such Persons, who by their volun- 
tary Engagement, and good Behaviour in the said 
Service, shall deserve the same. And I further 
promise, that the said Lands shall be divided 
amongst them immediately after the Performance of 
the said Service, in a Proportion due to their respec- 
tive merit, as shall be represented to me by their 
Officers, and held and enjoyed by them without pay- 
ing any Rights, and also free from the Payment of 
Quit-rents, for the Term of Fifteen Years. And I 
do appoint this Proclamation to be read and published 
at the Court-Houses, Churches and Chapels in each 



In Colonial Days. 99 

County within this Colony, and that the Sheriffs take 
Care the same be done accordingly. 

Given at the Council Chamber in Williamsburg, 
on the 19th Day of February, in the 27th Year 
of his Majesty's Reign, Annoque Domini, 

1754- 

ROBERT DINWIDDIE. 

GOD save the KING* 
Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania had been in- 
structed by the Proprietors of the Province to assist 
Virginia in the proposed measures, but also to require 
an acknowledgment, that the projected settlements 
should not be continued to the prejudice of the rights 
of Pennsylvania. Governor Dinwiddie, however, 
was more alive to the necessities of all the Colonies, 
than Hamilton and preferred security of the British 
interest on the Ohio and perhaps on the whole Con- 
tinent, to additions to the treasury of his Province. 
He therefore agreed that the quit-rents for the lands 
to be granted by him, might be collected by Penn- 
sylvania, until the dispute was settled by a definitely 
established boundary line. This was not done in 
English times ; the war of the Revolution had broken 
out, before in 1779 the Commissioners appointed for 
that purpose agreed upon a line " due west five de- 
grees of longitude, completed from the river Dela- 
ware, for the southern boundary of Pennsylvania, and 
a meridian drawn from the western boundary thereof 

* From an original in N. Y. Col. MSS., LXXVIII, 68. 



ioo The Ohio Valley 

to the northern limit of said State, be the western 
boundary of said State forever."* 

Meanwhile repeated informations came to the 
authorities, who ought to have acted upon it, that 
French troops were moving to the Ohio from Canada, 
and others were to join them from the Mississippi 
in order to build forts and drive the English from 
the Ohio.f At the same time the Indians pro- 
claimed, that many southern Indians and others, 
friendly to the English, intended to oppose the 
French.^ In October of 1753, the operations for 
the year came to a close. The French had erected 
forts twenty or thirty miles from each other, and by 
these means and the lakes kept the communication 
open between Quebec and the Mississippi," § but 
they had lost the hearty support of their Indian 
allies, who left them dissatisfied, because, contrary 
to the promise, made by the Governor of Canada, 
Englishmen had been taken prisoners. J 

The appearance of the French army — large for 
those days, for it consisted of 400 regulars, 5,000 
militia and 600 Indians, a levy which bore heavy 
upon the resources of the Colony and made the 
French inhabitants very dissatisfied || — at last 
opened the eyes of the English. The Assembly of 
Virginia voted during the session of 1753-4. 

*Craig, Olden Times, I, pp. 433-524. 

fN. Y. Coll. MSS., Council Min., XXIII, 95. 

Jib. 

§ lb. 140. 

I lb. 124. 



In Colonial Days. 101 

,£10,000 ''for the support of his Majesty's rights to 
the lands on the Ohio/'* and with these Governor 
Dinwiddie expected to raise five or six companies, 
which were to march to Wills Creek, where the Ohio 
Company established that year a store-house or 
magazine. The Colonies of Maryland, Pennsylvania, 
New Jersey and New York were called upon for as- 
sistance, but were either careless or dilatory, and 
another appropriation of £"20,000, also intended by 
Dinwiddie for the prosecution of the Ohio expedition, 
miscarried through an internal dispute. The Gov- 
ernor insisted upon the fee of one pistolef for every 
patent exceeding 400 acres, which had been granted, 
but not signed or issued by his predecessor. The 
Virginia Assembly was so strongly opposed to this, 
that they sent a representation against him, to Eng- 
land with the result, that he should not receive any 
fee for those patents, but might exact a pistole fee 
for every grant made by him, exceeding fifty acres. 
This cost the Assembly £"2,500 Virginia currency, 
and to pay the sum they tacked a clause to the 
bill for £20,000, which the Council would not pass, 
and they were prorogued. % 

When Governor Dinwiddie had received from the 
Virginia Assembly the first grant of £"10,000 for 
supporting the British interest against the insults 
and invasions by the French, he notified the other 
English Colonies of his intentions, asking for their 

* Dinwiddie, I, 80. 

f About $5 in gold. 

t N. Y. Col. MSS., Johnson Papers, I, 130. 



102 The Ohio Valley 

assistance. The Council of New York advised the 
Governor, Admiral George Clinton, that "as the 
present state of affairs seems to threaten a rupture, 
and as the frontiers of this Province are in a very 
defenseless condition, the Assembly will most likely 
not incline to give any money for this service, at 
least not until a general plan is concerted for attack- 
ing and dislodoqnor the French."* 

But, they continue, we are informed that a number 
of Connecticut people intend to buy from the Indians 
a tract of land to the westward of one hundred 
miles square, and to settle it immediately. Let them 
know of Governor Dinwiddie's proclamation, promis- 
ing 200,000 acres, etc., that will probably be an in- 
ducement to settle on the Ohio under the govern- 
ment of Virginia, and thereby that part of the country 
would be greatly strengthened. 

Governor Belcher of New Jersey tried every argu- 
ment in his power " to urge the Assembly to a sense 
of their duty to the King, by complying with his 
Majesty's most reasonable orders, for maintaining 
the honor and interest of the British Crown," but 
the Assembly turned a deaf ear to his appeals and 
he could do nothing for the accomplishment of the 
Virginia project, f 

The Maryland Assembly refused to vote any money 
for military operations, J North Carolina, the poorest 

*N. Y. MSS. Council Min., XXIII, 164. 
f N*. J. Archives, VIII, 287. 
\ Dinwiddie Papers, I, 126. 



In Colonial Days. 103 

of all the Colonies, however, granted £1 2,000 and ex 
pected to raise 750 men for the Ohio expedition. 
Pennsylvania had allowed a sum of money in the pre- 
ceding year, 1753, for distribution among the Indians, 
but it appears, the religious principles of the majority 
in the Assembly prevented them from granting money 
for an expedition which might lead to bloodshed, 
and they forgot over it the first law of nature, self- 
preservation. South Carolina sent one of her inde- 
pendent companies, and New York sent two, follow- 
ing orders from the Earl of Holderness, the British 
Secretary of State. 

In his instructions to Colonel Joshua Fry, com- 
manding the Virginia regiment, Governor Din- 
widdie explains (March 1, 1754) his plan for the 
Ohio campaign.* Colonel Fry was, after taking com- 
mand of all the forces assembled at Alexandria, to 
march to Wills Creek, above the Potomac Falls, and 
from there " with the great guns, ammunition and 
provisions you are to proceed to Monongahela; when 
arrived there, you are to make choice of the best 
place to erect a fort for mounting your cannons and 
ascertaining His Majesty the King of Great Britain's 
undoubted right to those lands." Two weeks later 
Captains Trent and Cresap inform him, that the 
French are already expected down the Ohio, and he 
ordered, March 15, Colonel George Washington to 
march with whatever number of soldiers he might 
have enlisted, to the Ohio. " I would gladly hope," 

* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 88. 



104 The Ohio Valley 

he continues, *' as Captain Trent has begun to build a 
fort at Allegany, that the French will not imme- 
diately disturb us there ; and when our forces are 
properly collected, we shall be able to keep posses- 
sion and drive the French from the Ohio."* The 
worthy Governor did not dream how disastrous this 
campaign of 1754 would end for the Virginia troops 
engaged in it. 

Pennsylvania had voted only money enough to 
make a present to the Indians, and thereby to keep 
them in the British interest; New Jersey had utterly 
refused " to raise any supplies for the common defense 
and security of the Colonies against the hostile en- 
croachments of a foreign power."f The New Eng- 
land Colonies were engaged in an expedition against 
Canada in another quarter, and had to bear that bur- 
den, which deprived them of the means to assist Vir- 
ginia in the Ohio expedition, and while Virginia is 
already sending a part of her great army of 700 men, 
poorly provisioned and without tents, New York is 
still debating how to send the two independent com- 
panies, detached from the regiments in New York by 
orders from the home government for service on the 
Ohio. In May, 1754, the Council comes to the con- 
clusion, that it is best to send them by water "be- 
cause so long a march over land, if practicable, must 
be attended with many desertions, and cause great 
delay.";}; The companies are finally embarked, and 

*Ib. 106. 

f N. J. Archives, VII, 294. 

JN. Y. Col. MSS. Council Min. XXIII, 178. 



In Colonial Days. 105 

the man-of-war, which carries them, has sailed down 
the Bay to the Watering Place, when another delay is 
occasioned by the objections of Captain Diggs, who 
has relieved Captain Kennedy in command of the 
above man-of-war ; Captain Diggs declines going to 
Virginia because he has orders for home. But here the 
Council of New York is firm, though wordy.* The dis- 
tance from New York to the Ohio is about 400 miles, 
through a country almost wholly inhabited, and, 
therefore, the forces could not be subsisted with pro- 
visions, were it practicable to march thither, which 
the Council thinks impracticable in the absence of 
roads; were the troops to march by way of Virginia, 
they could not arrive in time to be of any service this 
year, and even were all these difficulties surmounted 
there are no tents in the King's store, and no money 
to buy them and the provisions necessary for a long 
march. Therefore the troops must go by water and 
any delay must be prejudicial to the service at this 
juncture, when the French have already taken an 
English fort on the Ohio, and may, if not prevented 
by sufficient strength, advance even to the settle- 
ments of Virginia, and it appears by late advices 
from the Ohio, that the Indians there are apprehen- 
sive they '11 be destroyed by the French, if not sup- 
ported soon, or forced to relinquish the British and 
join the French interest." This was communicated 
to Captain Diggs, who then sailed for the James 
river, in Virginia, and arrived there i n June, too 

*N. Y. Col. MSS., Council Min. XXIII, 178. 
14 



106 The Ohio Valley 

late to help in averting the first disaster of the cam- 
paign. 

Pierre Claude Pecaudy, Seigneur de Contrecoeur, 
had reached the neighborhood of the fort, built by 
the advanced detachment under Ensign Ward at 
the embouchure of the Monongahela, and immedi- 
ately sent the following : 

" Summon, by order of Contrecoeur, Captain of 
one of the Companies of the Detachment of the 
French Marine ; Commander in Chief of his most 
Christian Majesty's Troops now ' o\\ the Beautiful 
River ; To the Commander of those, of the King of 
Great Britain, at the Mouth of the River Mononga- 
hela, 
"Sir. 

" Nothing can surprise me more, than to see you 
Attempt a Settlement upon the Lands of the King 
my Master, which obliges me now, Sir, to send you 
this Gentleman Chevalier Le Mercier, Captain of 
the Bombardiers, Commander of the Artillery of 
Canada, to know of you, Sir, by Virtue of what Au- 
thority you are come to fortify yourself within the 
Dominions of the King my Master. This Action 
seems so contrary to the last Treaty of Peace con- 
cluded at Aix La Chapelle, between his most Chris- 
tian Majesty and the King of Great Britain, that I 
do not know, to whom to impute such a Usurpation, 
as it is incontestable, that the Lands Situated along 
the Beautiful River belong to his most Christian 
Majesty. 



In Colonial Days. 107 

"I am Informed, Sir, that your undertaking has 
been concerted by none else, than by a Company 
who have more in view the Advantage of a Trade, 
than to endeavour to keep the Union and harmony 
which Subsists between the Crowns of France and 
Great Britain ; altho' it is as much the Interest, Sir, 
of your Nation, as ours to preserve it. 

" Let it be as it will, Sir, if you come into this 
place charged with Orders, I summon you in the 
name of the King my Master by Virtue of orders 
which I got from my General to retreat Peaceably 
with your Troops, from off the Lands of the King 
(and not return; or else I find myself obliged to 
fulfill my Duty, and compel you to it. I hope, Sir, 
you will not defer an Instant, and that you will not 
force me to the least Extremity) in that case, Sir, 
you may be persuaded, that I will give orders, that 
there shall be no Damage done by my Detachment. 

" I prevent you, Sir, from the Trouble of asking 
me one Hour of delay, nor to wait for my consent 
to receive Orders from your Gov 1 . He can give 
none within the Dominions of the King my Master ; 
those I have received of my General are my Laws, 
so that I cannot depart from them. 

"If on the Contrary, Sir, you have not got orders 
and only come to Trade I am sorry to tell you, that 
I cant avoid seizing you and to confiscate your Ef- 
fects, to the use of the Indians, our Children, Allies 
and Friends : as you are not allowed to carry on a 
Contraband Trade. It is for this reason Sir, that 



io8 The Ohio Valley 

we stopped two Englishmen last Year, who were 
Trading upon our Lands, moreover the King my 
Master asks nothing but his Right, he has not the 
least Intention, to trouble the good Harmony and 
Friendship which Reigns between his Majesty and 
the King of Great Britain. 

" The Governor of Canada can give Proof of 
having done his utmost endeavours, to maintain the 
Perfect Union which Reigns between two Friendly 
Princes, as he had learned that the Iroquois and 
Nepissingues of the Lake of the two Mountains* 
had struck and destroyed an English Family towards 
Carolina, he has barred up the Road and forced them 
to give him a little Boy belonging to that Family, 
which was the only one alive and which Mr. Wlerick 
a Merchant of Montreal has carried to Boston : and 
what is more he has forbid the Savages from Exer- 
cising their Accustomed Cruelty upon the English 
our Friends. 

" I coud complain Bitterly Sir, of the means taken 
all last Winter to instigate the Indians to accept the 
Hatchet and to strike us while we were striving to 
maintain the Peace. 

" I am well Persuaded Sir of the Polite manner in 
which you will receive Mr. LeMercier, as well out of 
Regard to his Business, as his Distinction and Per- 
sonal merit. I expect you will send him back with 
one of Your Officers, who will bring me a Precise 
Answer. As you have got some Indians with you, 

* North East of Lake Huron. (?) 



In Colonial Days. 109 

Sir, I Join with Mr. LeMercier an Interpreter, that 
he may inform them of my intentions upon that Sub- 
ject. I am with great Respect 

Sir, Your most humble and most 

obedient Servant 

CONTRECOEUR."* 

" Done at our Camp April 16th 1754 

This courteous and dignified invitation to leave 
comparatively comfortable quarters proved irresist- 
ible, as the following letter of Colonel Geo. Wash- 
ington to the Governor of Pennsylvania shows : 

" It is with the greatest Concern I acquaint you 
that Mr. Ward Ensign in Capt. Trents Company was 
compelled to surrender his small Fort in the Forks 
of Mohongialo to the French on the 17th inst. who 
fell down from Weningo with a Fleet of 360 Battoes 
and Canoes with upwards of One Thousand Men 
and Eighteen Pieces of Artillery, which they planted 
against the Fort, drew up their Men and sent the 
enclosed summons to Mr. Ward, who having but an 
inconsiderable number of Men and no Cannon to 
make a proper Defence was obliged to surrender ; 
they suffered him to draw off his Men, Arms and 
Working Tools and gave Leave that he might retreat 
to the Inhabitants. * * * 

" I have arrived thus far with a Detachment of 150 
Men, Col. Fry with the Remainder of the Regiment 
and Artillery is daily expected. In the meantime, we 

* From a copy in N. Y. Col. MSS., LXXVIII, 113, certified to by Rich d 
Peters, Sec>' of Penn a May 6, 1754. 



no The Ohio Valley 

advance slowly across the Mountains, making the 
Roads as We march, fit for the Carriage of our Guns 
&c a and are designed to proceed as far as the Mouth of 
the Red Stone Creek which enters Mohonoqalo about 
3 j miles above the Fort taken by the French, from 
whence we have a Water Carriage down the River 
— And there is a Store House built by the Ohio 
Company, which may serve as a Recepticle for our 
Ammunition and Provisions. 

" Besides these French that came from Weningo, 
We have credible Accounts that another Party are 
coming up Ohio — We also have Intelligence that 600 
of the Chippoways and Ottoways are marching down 
Sciodo C k to join them." * * * 

" P. S. James Foley the Express says he left Mr. 
Washington at the new Store on Patowmack about' 
130 miles from Capt. Trents Fort at the Mouth of 
Mohongialo on Saturday 27 th April."* 

Governor Dinwiddie was not discouraged by this 
first check, which his small army had received. Some 
of the troops, one company of 100 soldiers, had ar- 
rived from South Carolina and the New York com- 
panies were, as he writes, f daily expected. As the 
main body, in advance, could not make more than 
two, three or four miles a day,;£ because they were 
obliged to clear roads for the provision train, it was 
possible for the South Carolinians to keep up with 

* From a copy in N. Y. Col. MSS., LXXVIII, in, certified to by Rich d 
Peters, Secy of Perm 8 May 6, 1754. 
f Dinwiddie Papers, I, 150. 
X lb. 151. 



hi Colonial Days. 1 1 1 

them ; the New Yorkers, who arrived only in June, 
could not be expected to do so. 

Meanwhile unpleasant news came from the Ohio. 
Washington writes under date of May 4, 1754, from 
Little Meadows,* that the French at the fort lately 
taken by them have received a reinforcement of 800 
men, that another French detachment of 600 is 
building a fort at the falls of the Ohiof and intend 
to move up river from there to erect another fort at 
the mouth of the Scioto. But an Indian message, 
arriving simultaneously with the news of Ward's dis- 
aster, put a more hopeful face to the matter. It 
showed that the English had not yet lost the friend- 
ship of the Indians, who were in so many respects 
an important factor in the Ohio drama. 

Scruniyattha, the Half King; that is, the Head 
Chief, of a tribe dependent upon the Iroquois, said : 
" We have been waiting this long Time for the 
French to strike us ; now we see what they design 
to do with us, we are ready to strike them now and 
wait for your assistance ; be strong and come as soon 
as possible you can, and you shall find us your true 
brothers and shall find us as ready to strike them as 
you are."J 

Relying on this promised assistance from the In- 
dians and buoyed up by the arrival of a company 
of " 100 fine Men" from South Carolina, Governor 

* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 152. 

f Near Louisville, Ky. 

% N. Y. Col. MSS., LXXVIII, p. 112. 



1 12 The Ohio Valley 

Dinwiddie did not relinquish the hope of driving the 
French from the territory, which he claimed to be 
English, but which was still in dispute between Vir- 
ginia and Pennsylvania. Washington's successful 
encounter with a detachment of French near the 
Great Meadows, in which the English killed ten, 
wounded one and took twenty-one prisoners, out of 
a French force of about seventy-five, * must have ap- 
peared as the beginning of a realization of Dinwid- 
die's expectations. As the Governor puts it in a let- 
ler to Washington, congratulating him on his victory, 
the success gained " may give testimony to the In- 
dians, that the French are not invincible when fairly 
engaged with the English. "f Another cause for re- 
joicing was the news that a body of Cherokee In- 
dians were on the march to join the small English 
forces. 

On the other side, the French were also endeavor- 
ing to secure the support of Indians near enough to 
be of any use. Early in the spring of 1 754, they 
sent messages to the Twightwees, Wyandots and 
other tribes in alliance with them, asking that they 
should take up the hatchet, start for the Ohio and 
there cut off the inhabitants and all the English 
among them. J But for once they were not success- 
ful, for Big Kettle informed the Half King, a staunch 
ally of the English, of the French intrigues, and " at 

* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 179. 
f lb. 186. 
t lb. 191. 



In Colonial Days. 1 1 3 

the same time assured him of their good intention 
to assist the Six Nations and their brethren the 
English." 

The next meeting between the contending nation- 
alities was a disastrous one for the English. "A 
few days ago," writes Governor Dinwiddie to the 
Lords of Trade on the 24th of July, 1754, "Col. 
Washington, * * * , arrived from our camp at 
the Meadows, near the Ohio river, who gave the 
following melancholy account of an engagement be- 
tween our forces and the French. On the 3 d of this 
Month they had intelligence, that the French were 
reinforced (at the fort they took from us, last May, 
near the Ohio) with 700 men and that they were in 
full march with 900 men to attack our small camp, 
which consisted of few more than 300 men besides 
Officers. They immediately connected and prepared 
to make the best defence their small number would 
admit of."* But a successful defense was almost an 
impossibility, seeing the superiority of the attacking 
force and the blunder of the English commander, 
who, in locating his camp, had left standing around 
trees enough to shelter the French against the fire 
from the English trenches. The English troops 
were again allowed to march out with all the honors 
of war, colors flying and drums beating. 

The other Colonies' troops, with the exception of 
the South Carolina Company, had not yet joined and 
Dinwiddie is undoubtedly right in attributing to their 

* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 239, et seq. 

*5 



1 1 4 The Ohio Valley 

slowness the disaster of July, 1754. The two New 
York Companies had reached Winchester, the North 
Carolina Company was still on the march and " the 
other Colonies have not given any assistance, and I 
fear do not intend to do anything, unless obliged by 
an act of Parliament, for a general poll tax of half a 
crown stlg. for conducting this expedition."* The 
forces which were to contend against the French 
were, 100 men from South Carolina, 350 from North 
Carolina, 300 Virginians, 100 Marylanders and 160 
from New York, a total of 1010 men, to whom Din- 
widdie expected to add 200 more. 

The Indians of the Ohio characteristically, had 
partly joined the French after the first defeat of the 
English and this second mishap, it was feared, would 
induce many more of the Iroquois to desert Corach- 
koof and go to Onontio.J 

And while hard at work in other directions, there 
came to Dinwiddie the disheartening news, that the 
Cherokees, who had constantly protested they were 
friends of the English, had conferred with the French 
and made peace with them. The exertions of Richard 
Pears, an Indian trader among the Cherokees on 
Holston river,§ however, induced Attakullakulla, the 
chief of this tribe, also called Little Carpenter, to 
break the peace. He and the Catawbas were also 

* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 239, et seq. 
\ Indian name for the King of England. 
% Indian name for Governor of Canada. 
§ Branch of the Tennessee. 



In Colonial Days. 1 1 5 

relied upon to prevent the building of a French fort 
on the Holston or Choto river, where the French 
had begun such a structure and where a settlement 
by Englishmen had sprung up.* 

But even if the Indians should fail him, the Gover- 
nor of Virginia did not intend to give up his pet 
scheme of driving the French from the territory dis- 
covered by them, and taken possession of long before 
the English had any knowledge of its existence. He 
applied to his work all the experience, gathered dur- 
ing his military life on the battle-fields of Europe 
and sent orders to Colonel James Innes, commanding 
the forces, to gather all his soldiers at Will's creek, 
a tributary of the Potomac, to march them across the 
ridge of the Allegheny mountains and after expelling 
the French from the fort, so lately taken by them, to 
build another strong place at the crossing place Red 
Stone creek, or where it was thought most advisable 
in that neighborhood of the Monongahela. But a 
few weeks later, Dinwiddie gave Governor Sharpe 
of Maryland, the following doleful account of the 
situation :f 

" The plan of operations that I proposed for this 
fall are entirely defeated : 1st. By the No. Car. forces 
disbanding themselves, which was occasioned by a 
monstrous mismanagement of them from the begin- 
ning ; they raised £ 1 2,000. The President of that 
Colony (Rowan) gave the private men 3 sh. Procla- 

* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 267. 
t lb. 304. 



116 The Ohio Valley 

mation money per day and the officers in proportion, 
so that their money was wholly expended before they 
joined the other forces and would serve no longer 
without assurance of the above pay. . . . Next 
is the reduction of the No. of our forces, those killed 
and wounded unfit for service, and desertion, which 
has reduced the number to 150. If the appropria- 
tion of ,£20,000 had passed, I fully intended to aug- 
ment our regiment to 8 Companies of yo men each, 
and in course made up the deficiency oc- 
casioned by the No. Car. people, but the obstinacy of 
our Assembly have defeated my intentions and I am 
now persuaded that no expedition can be conducted 
here with dependence on American Assemblies. 
Under these great disappointments I de- 
termined to keep the few people we have in pay and 
propose 100 of them to march to Will's creek to join 
the Independent Companies and to endeavour to 
secure a pass over the Allegany mounts by erecting 
a fort ... to facilitate our operations next 
spring ... I am of opinion with our handful 
of men, we can only be on the defensive till we in- 
crease our numbers." 

The French, in the meantime, were not idly sitting 
in their newly acquired foothold on the forks of Mo. 
nongahela, but made many depredatory descents 
upon the English settlers in the neighborhood, in 
Augusta county, and prepared for a vigorous defense 
of what they considered French territory, by new 
forts on Holston, Green Brier's and other rivers, 



In Colonial Days. 117 

whose waters found their way to the Ohio. These 
attempts, in fact only the mention of such intention, 
aroused, however, the ire of the Iroquois, who looked 
upon themselves as the rightful owners of the terri- 
tory in dispute between the two foreign white races. 
Already at the Albany Congress in June and July of 
this year, 1754, the speaker of the Mohawks had 
said :* " We cannot find after the strictest inquiry, 
that any leave to build forts has been given or land 
sold to the French. They have gone there without 
our consent. The Governors of Virginia and of 
Canada are both quarreling about lands belonging 
to us. Virginia and Pennsylvania have made roads 
through our country without acquainting us of it." 
Governor de Lancey, of New York, appeased their 
anger toward the English Colonies by telling them, 
that the invaded country was still acknowledged to be 
theirs under English protection, and that the inroads 
were made for the purpose of protecting them. This 
assertion was confirmed by Conrad Weiser, a Ger- 
man possessed of great influence among the Six 
Nations, and the latter were so well satisfied with 
this notion of English protection that in the latter 
part of the summer of 1 754, they sent messages to 
Virginia asking for aid and assistance to be given to 
their friends and allies on the Ohio, f which was readily 
promised by Governor Dinwiddie, who was very soon 
after compelled, by the failure of the appropriation, to 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., VI, 870 etseq. 

\ N. Y. Col. MSS., Council Min., XXIII, 220. 



1 1 8 The Ohio Valley 

countermand his orders to Colonel Innes, and direct 
him to secure a good position back of the mountains, 
at the same time maintaining the Ohio company's 
warehouse for storing his supplies. The time for 
active operations in 1754 was rapidly drawing toward 
its close when Governor Dinwiddie, still obedient to 
the orders received in the previous year, wrote to Hor- 
ace Walpole, the Secretary of War,:* " The French are 
left to perpetrate all their mischievous schemes 
against the British subjects with 1,500 men ; what a 
dangerous condition are these Colonies in from the 
obstinate and imprudent behaviour of the Assem- 
blies ? New York lately has voted ,£5,000 and 
Maryland ,£6,000, their moneys, but these sums are 
trifling for the support of so essential and necessary 
(an) expedition. . . . Without a British act of Par- 
liament to raise a general poll-tax all over the conti 
nent no money can be raised here, though for their 
own safety, and I fear that would not do. I there- 
fore have humbly recommended a supply from home 
of men, money and ammunition, without which I 
dread much the consequence. For I do not con- 
ceive the French views are confined to the lands on 
the Ohio, but for a general conquest of all the British 
Colonies, and without immediate assistance I dread 
their success. . . . So. Car. and Pennsylvania have 
not as yet granted any aid whatever to this expedi- 
tion. 

It is difficult, at this day, to fully understand the 

* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 343. 



In Colonial Days. 1 1 9 

supine lethargy, evinced by the other English Col- 
onies in regard to the efforts made by Virginia for 
extending British territory. The New England 
Colonies had too much to do in defending themselves 
against the common enemy ; but their neighbor, New 
York, was, on account of her Indians, the Six Na- 
tions, as much interested in keeping the French out 
of the Ohio valley, as in securing the safety of her 
own frontiers. The slackness of Pennsylvania must 
be attributed partly to jealousy, that Virginia might 
establish a prescriptive right to the Ohio lands by 
her exertions against the French, partly to the dis- 
inclination of the dominant party in the Colony, 
the Quakers, to assist, even if only in an indirect 
manner, in the shedding of blood. That the Assem- 
bly of Virginia should fail, at a decisive moment, to 
grant the needed moneys, is almost incomprehensible, 
unless we ascribe their action to personal motives, to a 
dislike against their Governor, arising out of Dinwid- 
die's former service in the Colony as Surveyor of 
Customs. The other Colonies, New Jersey, Mary- 
land, the Carolinas and Georgia, were evidently 
actuated by the feeling, displayed by a rabbit, which, 
if it cannot see the danger, considers itself safe, and. 
won't run. 

Governor Dinwiddie's urgent appeals for aid, di- 
ercted to the British government, finally were crowned 
with success. At the re-assembling- of the Virginia 
House of Burgesses on the 17th of October, 1754, he 
could inform them, that in view of the dangerous con- 



120 The Ohio Valley 

dition of his Colonies, the King had sent over ;£ 10,000, 
and 2,000 stand of arms, and he appealed to their 
sense of duty and self-preservation so effectively, that 
they granted further ,£20,000 out of the revenues of 
the Colony. A new Governor for North Carolina, 
Dobbs, arriving, gave to Dinwiddie a chance of hold- 
ing a council of war with this new comer, and with 
Governor Sharpe of Maryland, who had been ap- 
pointed to command the combined forces of the pro- 
posed expedition. 

The Virginia militia, numbering about 20,000, 
could not be ordered out of the Province; to make 
it available for the proposed expulsory measures, 
Governor Dinwiddie intended to have the Assem- 
bly pass an act, allowing him to draft one man in 
ten, altogether 2,000, to march across the Alleghanies. 

The Cherokees and Catawbas, having been noti- 
fied that the French had taken up the hatchet and 
were invading their hunting grounds on the Ohio, 
promised to send from 800 to 1,000 of their warriors 
against the French, but were dissuaded from it by 
Governor Glen of South Carolina, who acted very 
much like a dog in the manger ; he could not see any 
advantage for his Colony arising from this expedi- 
tion, and, therefore, would allow no other one to reap 
any. 

A renewed appeal to them, made by Dinwiddie in 
November, 1754, with promises of plenty of powder 
and of sincere friendship, had the effect of counter- 
acting Governor Glen's promptings, and the plan of 



In Colonial Days. 121 

sending warriors to join the English troops on their 
march to the Ohio, was resumed, but none came to 
help Braddock.* 

The Twightwees continued steadily in the British 
interest, and sent messages, that they were going to 
war against the French, after having killed a number 
of them. 

Other Indians re-affirmed their loyalty to the Eng- 
lish, also. "On the 18th of October last," writes 
Governor Dinwiddie,f " there was a small treaty at 
our camp at Will's Creek, between Col. Innes and 
some Indians, viz.: Scaruniata and Moses, warriors 
of the Six Nations, Laputhia, the Shawna King, 
Jescoma, a Delaware, and Monecatoocha, chief on 
the Ohio, when after long consultation they unani- 
mously took up the hatchet against the French, and 
sent Monecatoocha with a black belt of wampum and 
a hatchet, to Onondaga, desiring the Six Nations to 
declare themselves against the French and desired, 
that this Colony, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New 
York should each of them send a black belt and 
hatchet to engage them to declare against the 
French." Within a fortnight after the date of this 
letter, Scarroyadi, the Oneida chief, and a chief of the 
Senecas, probably the two warriors of the Six Na- 
tions mentioned above, appeared before the Gover- 
nor and Council of New York with messages from 
the western Indians and on their way to Onondaga 

*Dinwiddie Papers, II, 51. 
fib., 1,430. 
16 



122 The Ohio Valley 

with Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania belts.* 
Scarroyadi, the Half King, explained, that they were 
about to consult the Six Nations upon the present 
situation of affairs and intended, to effect a union 
between them and the western Indians, who had al- 
ready taken up the hatchet against the French, but 
meant to keep it in their bosom, still all their breth- 
ren, English and Indians, should strike with it to- 
gether. They were further charged with an invita- 
tion for the Six Nations to come to Winchester and 
asked for a New York belt, to eive weight to the 
others. 

Governor De Lancey told them in reply, that at 
the conference in Albany, held during the preceding 
summer, a large belt had been given to the Six Na- 
tions, to unite all governments with them and their 
friends, when it was agreed that whenever their 
brethren, the English, called upon them, they, the 
Six Nations, would join and attack the French. 
New York, he said, is ready to strike, but must wait 
until the General, appointed by the King to com- 
mand this expedition, f has arrived. 

About the same time Governor Dinwiddie lost for 
this expedition an officer whose knowledge of the 
country and experience in frontier warfare had ren- 
dered his services conspicuously valuable. The reason 
was a question of rank, pardonable in any officer, 
but in this case deplorable. Colonel George Wash- 

*N. Y. Col. MSS., Council Min., XXIII, 259. 
\ Braddock. 



hi Colonial Days. 123 

ington resigned his commission because, under the new 
military establishment planned by Governor Dinwid- 
die, the Virginia forces were to be divided into ten 
independent companies of 100 men each under the 
command of a captain, who were severally subordi- 
nate to officers with royal commissions. This might 
have placed Colonel Washington at the orders of 
men, to whom he had formerly given orders himself 
and, therefore, he resigned in a pet, without waiting 
for the result of the Governor's application for royal 
commissions, to be issued to the officers of the inde- 
pendent companies.* 

The winter of 1754101755 was spent in preparations 
for an early spring campaign. The other Colonies, 
more or less interested in the object of it, began to 
throw off their lethargy, one after the other, and 
granted money or men, or both, for the expulsion of 
the French from the Ohio valley. New York, from 
which Colony troops were already in this service and 
which was called upon also for the defense of its 
northern frontiers, raised 800 men and voted ,£4,500. 
In the Jerseys 500 men were enlisted, Pennsylvania 
gave ,£15,000, Maryland ,£6,000 with a promise of 
perhaps doubling that sum ; Virginia had to pay 
£30,000 besides refunding the money received from 
England; North Carolina had contributed £"8,000 
and South Carolina — nothing. Governor Glen, of 
this colony, which gave nothing, was, however, dissat- 
isfied, that he could not have a share of the £"10,000 

*Dinwiddie Papers, I. 



124 The Ohio Valley 

granted by England for the defense of the Colonies, 
and he boldly demanded from Governor Din- 
widdie ,£7,000 for the purpose of building a fort in 
the Upper Cherokee country, basing this demand 
on the instruction which had accompanied the 
money grant. " It is likewise His Majesty's pleas- 
ure, you [Dinwiddie] should concert with Mr. Glen, 
Gov. of S. Car., the necessary measures for securing 
the Cherokee Indians by a proper present and for 
obtaining forthwith permission for the building a 
fort in their country, for which purpose you are 
hereby empowered to remit to Mr. Glen such sums 
out of the money (^10,000) as shall be agreed be- 
tween you and the said Governor."* 

Before the Colonies had bestirred themselves, as 
stated above, General Braddock and troops from 
England had arrived, and it is likely that the Colo- 
nial Assemblies, who had hitherto always opposed 
the royal prerogatives, felt ashamed, when they saw 
that these same objectionable prerogatives were ex- 
erted for their benefit, while they themselves had 
been doing nothing for their own defense; hence they 
made liberal appropriations. 

While the Colonists under either crown were thus 
preparing for and already engaged in actual hostili- 
ties, peace still reigned in their trans-Atlantic homes; 
but the governments of both France and England 
recognized the portent of the ominous clouds gather- 
ing over their American Provinces, and hastened to 

* Dinwiddie Papers, I, 484. 



In Colonial Days. 125 

send assistance. Irony of fate decided that the two 
European generals, Braddock, the English com- 
mander, and Baron Dieskau, the French, should 
come across the ocean, to meet defeat at the hands 
of their foes. General Braddock with two regiments 
of the Royal army* reached Virginia about the 
middle of March, 1755, and immediately set to work 
upon a plan of campaign. Governor Dinwiddie pro- 
posed that the attack upon the French should be 
made all along the line, from Niagara to the Ohio, 
General Braddock commanding the southern or 
left wing. After the capture of Fort Du Quesne, 
of which the Governor seems not to have doubted, 
this southern wing was to march toward Lake Erie, 
join the forces at or before Niagara, and, if success- 
ful here, direct their attention^ to Crown Point, New 
York. At a Council of War, held in April, by Gen- 
eral Braddock, Commodore Keppel, and the Gov- 
ernors of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New 
York and New England, this plan was adopted, with 
the additional feature that Sir William Johnson, of 
New York, with 5,000 men, should make an attack 
on Crown Point at the same time as the other troops, 
3,000 under Braddock, and two regiments of Pro- 
vincials, under Shirley, attempted the expulsion of the 
French from the upper Ohio and Niagara. Sir Peter 
Halkett's and Colonel Dunbar's commands were 
already on the march to the Ohiof and were, joined 

*44th and 48th Regts., R. A. 
f Dinwiddie Papers, II, 14. 



126 The Ohio Valley 

by a company of 84 men from North Carolina, the only 
Provincial help given to Virginia for the undertak- 
ing, except the two companies from New York, 
which had remained in this service since the preced- 
ing year. 

Although the General in command of this army of 
operation, marching westward, had been trained in 
a good military school in Europe, — on the battle- 
fields of Fontenoy, and in Flanders, — and, there- 
fore, may be presumed to have acquired some knowl- 
edge of warfare, and to have been a man of courage, 
the English government could hardly have sent a 
man more unfit for this undertaking, than Braddock. 
His arrogance, profligacy and profanity* soon made 
him unpopular with the Provincials under his com- 
mand, and their Indian allies. Of these, the Six 
Nations were not only the most important, but also 
the most dissatisfied. Uneasiness and jealousies 
had been aroused among them by the claims made 
upon the Ohio lands by the English, especially by 
the Ohio company. They knew of this and other 
grants of land, which they considered their own, by 
Virginia, upon which settlements had already been 
attempted or effected. They, therefore, disliked 
Virginia, and as they looked upon Braddock and 
his army, as upon the Governor and people of 
this Colony, and were arrogantly treated by the 
General, who endeavored to drill his white and 
Indian troops, as he would drill European soldiers, 

* He had learned to swear " with our army in Flanders." 



In Colonial Days. 1 2 7 

they refused to help him at the decisive moment* 
The General's efforts to impart European military 
discipline to his troops, a long delay in procuring 
wagons and horses for the provisions and the forage, 
kept the army in the camp near Fort Cumberland 
until late in May. " The 28th of that month the 
first division of his army began the march over the 
Alleghany Mts."f and could reasonably expect 
to be successful, for it was supposed that " not above 
500 Frenchmen, besides Indians, were at the fort on 
the Ohio;" the newsj sent by Lieutenant Holland, 
May 10 and 12, 1755, that two parties of 300 French 
each besides Indians, and by Captain Broadstreet, 
May 29, that 950 French with nine cannons had passed 
Oswego on their way to Ohio, and that others were 
said to be under orders for the same place, could as 
yet not have reached Virginia. Indian report was 
also of a nature to buoy up the hope of success for 
the English arms. The French were said to intend 
retreat from and perhaps dismantling of the fort on 
the Ohio on sight of Braddock's army,§ and Brad- 
dock made his plans accordingly. He sent for guns 
and ammunition to be used in the fort on the Ohio 
" if he should succeed in taking it, which I do not in 
the least doubt of,"§ says Governor Dinwiddie. 

On the 10th of June the last detachment of the 3,000 
men, composing General Braddock's army, marched 

* N.Y. Col. Hist., VII, 22. 

f Dinwiddie Papers, II, 50. 

% N. Y. Col. MSS., Coun. Min., XXV, 32 and 43. 

§ Dinwiddie Papers, II, 69. 



128 The Ohio Valley 

over the Alleghany mountains* and was about 
to meet the fate, of which they did not dream, while 
parties of French and Indians devastated the Eng- 
lish settlements on the frontiers of Virginia and 
Maryland, in Hampshire, Frederick and Augusta 
counties and on Holston river, f 

Governor Dinwiddie, though distressed by the ac- 
count of ravages committed by the French, was still 
in buoyant hopes, that the army, sent to drive them 
from their stronghold on the Ohio, would put a stop 
to their further proceeding in this direction, when the 
news came, which wiped away all these hopes at one 
fell blow. " I wrote you two days ago the account,''^ 
he writes to Lord Halifax on the 25th of July, 1755: 
"we had from the Ohio of the defeat of our forces, 
death of Gen 1 Braddock &c. I then was in hopes 
these acc ts were false, but alas ! last night I had an 
express confirming these melancholy news." 

The battle of the 9th of July, 1755, has been so 
often described, that a relation of it would appear 
superfluous, were it not by one of the participants in 
the expedition, though not in the battle. Captain 
John Rutherford, the writer of the following letter, 
was a member of the Council of New York and com- 
manded one of the New York companies. 

" I have delayed writing this week past out of vex- 
ation at our proceedings here, but now a Retreat is 

* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 73. 
f lb. 90-1. 
% lb. 117. 



In Colonial Days. 129 

ordered and the blow struck to our shame and the 
Glory of the Indians who with a very few Canadians 
amongst them have entirely defeated our General 
and the Division of our Troops which he carried 
alongfst with him and what is worst of all our Train 
of Artillery is left in their hands which ruins all 
hopes of doing any thing this way. Sir Peter Halket 
was killed in the field regretted by all mankind and 
his son Lieut. Halket, his son Major Halket came 
off unwounded with a few officers more, all the rest 
killed or returned wounded, many very dangerously 
amongst whom are the General and Sir John S fc Clair, 
Capt. Gates has a slight wound, L* Semain killed and 
L l Miller returned unwounded, Capt Gates with 50 
of his men having marched with the first division 
and my Company and Capt. Demires with the re- 
mainder of his under Lieut. Spearing marched in the 
second division, except a few of our men who had 
gone up to the first division with a convoy of Pro- 
visions ; the slaughter on our side is surprising con- 
sidering General Braddock had 1,500 and I dont 
believe the Indians had 300 but they chose a very 
advantageous Ground within 9 miles of Fort Du- 
quesne. The general Told us he would never be 5 
miles from us, so that the one division might support 
the other whenever attacked ; what made him change 
his resolution and order Col Dunbar to keep us be 
hind with Provisions and tired Waggon Horses, 
God knows, it seems Infatuation : he thought he 
had Men enough and was vain of his Artillery. 
17 



130 The Ohio Valley 

We had no attacks upon us but small scalping 
parties." 

Another letter gives a picture of a warfare in those 
days. It is from Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, to 
Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania. 

"Annapolis,^/}/ 15, 1755. 

... "I have not received any letters from the 
General or the Camp since the 22 d of June, but one 

M r , who belongs to the train wr. a letter to a 

Gentleman of this town, dated near the Great 
Meadows the I st of this month, says on the 9 th of 
last month the whole Army except 600 men with Sir 
Jn° St Clair, who march d two days before, went from 
Wills Creek & with Infinite difffcultys thro the worst 
roads in the world arrived 10 days afterwards at the 
little Meadows, where an Abatie was made by Sir 
John & two Engineers encircling the whole Camp — 
here the whole halted 3 days, then the Baronett with 
his party moved forward & the second day after the 
General with four Howitzers, four twelve pounders, 
13 Artillery Waggons, beside Ammunition Carts fol- 
lowed him & have kept marching ever since & this 
Evening tis Expected his Excellency will be within 
25 miles of the fort — Coll° Dunbar with the re- 
mainder of the Army, four Artillery Officers, 84 Car- 
riages with Ordinance stores and all the provision 
waggons form the rear amongst whom I am. The 
night before last we were Alarm d four different times 
by the Sculking Indians, on whom our out Guards & 
Centries fired — tis said this morning the General 



In Colonial Days. 131 

has had advice that 500 regulars are in full march to 
the fort, which is the reason he is determined to be 
there before them. As we had but very little pro- 
visions since we left the post at Wills Creek, the 
Officers as well as private men have been & still are 
Extremely 111 with the flux, — many have died, — to- 
morrow morning we march again & are to Encamp on 
the Western side of the great meadows, from whence 
we are to proceed after the General, but am fearfull 
it will not be before we have built some fortyfications 
there & Leave a strong Party of men with a Great 
Deal Provisions & Artillery Stores — our horses 
being so weak for want of food & rest, that it is 
Impossible for the whole Rear to joyn the front in 
five & twenty Days."* 

To complete the account of the battle a French 
report is given here, which says :f " M. de Contre- 
coeur, Captain of Infantry, Commandant at Fort 
Duquesne on the Ohio, having been informed, that 
the English were taking up arms in Virginia for the 
purpose of coming to attack him, was advised, 
shortly afterwards, that they were on the march. He 
dispatched scouts, who reported to him faithfully 
their progress. On the 17 th (?) instant, he was ad- 
vised, that their army consisting of 3,000 regulars 
from Old England, were within six leagues of this 
fort. That officer employed the next day in making 
his arrangements : and on the 9 th detached M. de 

* N. Y. Col. MSS., LXXXI, 78; Penn. Col. Records, VII, 477. 
f N. Y. Co st., X, 303, reprinted in Pennsylvania Archives, 2d Ser.. 
VI, 256. 



132 The Ohio Valley 

Beaujeu, seconded by Mess rs Dumas and de Lignery, 
all three Captains, with four Lieutenants, 6 Ensigns, 
20 Cadets, 100 Soldiers, 100 Canadians and 600 
Indians, with orders to lie in ambush at a favorable 
spot, which he had reconnoitred the previous evening. 
The detachment, before it could reach its place of 
destination, found itself in the presence of the en- 
emy within three leagues of that fort. M r de 
Beaujeu, finding his ambush had failed, decided on 
an attack. This he made with so much vigor as to 
astonish the enemy, who were waiting for us in the 
best possible order ; but their artillery loaded with 
grape (k cartouche), having opened its fire, our men 
gave way in turn. The Indians also, frightened by 
the report of the cannon rather than by any damage 
it could inflict, began to yield, when M. de Beaujeu 
was killed. M. Dumas began to encourage his de- 
tachment. He ordered the officers in command of 
the Indians to spread themselves along the wings so 
as to take the enemy in flank, whilst he, M. de Lig- 
nery and the other officers, who led the French, were 
attacking them in front. This order was executed so 
promptly, that the enemy, who were already shouting 
their " Long live the King," thought now of only 
defending themselves. The fight was obstinate on 
both sides and success long doubtful ; but the enemy 
at last gave way. Efforts were made, in vain, to 
introduce some sort of order in their retreat. The 
whoop of the Indians, which echoed through the 
forest, struck terror into the hearts of the entire 



In Colonial Days. 133 

enemy. The rout was complete. We remained in 
possession of the field with six brass twelves and 
sixes, four howitz-carriages of fifty, 1 1 small royal 
grenade mortars, all their ammunition and generally 
their entire baggage. Some deserters, who have 
come in since, have told us, that we had been en- 
gaged with only 2,000 men, the remainder of the 
army being four leagues off. These same deserters 
have informed us, that the enemy were retreating to 
Virginia and some scouts, sent as far as the height 
of land, have confirmed this by reporting, that the 
thousand men, who were not engaged, had been 
equally panic stricken and abandoned both pro- 
visions and ammunition on the way. On this intelli- 
gence a detachment was dispatched after them, which 
destroyed and burnt everything that could be found. 
The enemy have left more than 1,000 men on the 
field of battle. They have lost a great portion of 
the artillery and ammunition, provisions, as also their 
General, whose name was M r Braddock and almost 
all their officers. We have had 3 officers killed, 2 
officers and 2 cadets wounded. Such a victory, so 
entirely unexpected, seeing the inequality of the 
forces, is the fruit of M. Dumas' experience and of 
the activity and valor of the officers under his com- 
mand." 



CHAPTER VI. 

The French Masters of the Ohio Valley.' 

Although the defeat of the English troops, who 
had encountered the enemy, could hardly have been 
more decisive and humiliating, because 300 French 
and 600 Indians had almost annihilated 1,300 English 
soldiers, Governor Dinwiddie was still intent upon 
carrying out his plan of driving the French from the 
Ohio. The feeling, that this defeat was a disaster 
which could be made use of in obtaining further help 
against the French, was shared by others. Secretary 
Richard Peters, of Pennsylvania, writes to Governor 
de Lancey, of New York, July 19, 1755 :* 

.... " The defeat is not general. The Army was 
in 2 Divisions in the First of which marched the 
General, having with him 1300 men, 4 Howitzers, 4 
12 pdrs. & 13 Art y Waggons. The second was com- 
manded by Col. Dunbar and had not marched further 
than Two Miles West of the great meadows, distant 
from Fort Duquesne Sixty Miles, having with him 
the heavy baggage, Ordinance Stores, the Provisions 
and greatest part of the waggons. — The General was 
advanced within Five miles of Fort Duquesne and 

* N. Y. Col. MSS., LXXXI, 85. 



The Ohio Valley i7i Colonial Days. 135 

marching in a narrow Way on the 8 lh or 9 th Instant 
when he was attacked by a large Number of French 
and Indians and beat, but not killed as was said, and 
was making a fine Retreat to Col. Dunbars part of 
the Army." 

The reader may ask, where were the Indians, 
friendly to the British, a so important factor in Colo- 
nial warfare ? Governor Dinwiddie propounds the 
same question and answers it as follows :* " The Six 
Nations, so many as are in the British Int't, were 
engaged with Gen 1 Shirley and Johnson on the 
Expedit's to Niagara and Crown Point. The 
Twightwees, who I verily think are in our interest, 
are on the other Side the Ohio and I believe [were] 
prevented from serving us by the Fr. being between 
them and us. Those Indians on the Ohio, who I 
had reason to think were in our Interest, were over- 
awed by the Fr. and their Indians, only Moneca- 
toocha their Chief, and a few of their People, rem'd 
at F l Cumb'l'd, march'd with the Gen' 1 and shew'd 
their attachm't to us by doing every Th'g in their 
Power for our Service. The So'ern Ind's, viz 1 : the 
Cherokees and Catawbas, I have been these 18 mo's 
endeavour'g to get a No. of them to join our Forces, 
w ch they seriously promised. The Fr., who are 
always on the watch, knowing their Intent's, in March 
last sent 14 of their Ind's to perswade to lie Neuter, 
or declare War ag'sf So. Caro. and they would assist 
them, or get a Meet'g with the Go'r of y't Province 

* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 224. 







6 The Ohio Valley 



to have some Presents for their Interest. The last 
Proposal prevailed, w ch answer d the Ends of the Fr. 
They kept them at a distance from the Scene of 
Action." 

Governor Dinwiddie was eager to renew the at- 
tempt against the French. He wrote to Colonel 
Dunbar, July 26, 1755 :* " Dear Colonel, is there no 
Method left to retrieve the Dishonor done to the 
British Arms ? As you now Comm'd all the Forces 
y l remain are you not able, after a proper Refreshm't 
of your Men, to make a second Attempt to recover 
the Loss we have Sustained ? You must still have 
remain'g upwards of 1600 Men and I have called the 
Assembly of this Dom'n to meet next Tuesday next 
come Week, w'n I think I can promise You a Rein- 
forcement of at least 400 Men. . . . Why cannot we 
recover the Train [of Artillery] in the same Manner 
as the Enemy took them. You have four Mo's now 
to come of the best Weather in the Year for such an 
Expedition. As our Forces under Gen 1 Shirley are 
marched and before y s I suppose attacked Niagara 
and Colo. Johnson,f I believe, has prevailed with the 
Six Nations to take up the Hatchet ag st the French, 
and I suppose that Gent, is gone ag st Crown Point, 
w ch no doubt the Forces at F l Duquesne are appris'd 
of and naturally will go up the River Ohio to the 
Assist'ce of these Places, and will remain satisfied 
and secure y l no Attempt y s Year will be made on 

* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 118. 
f Sir W m Johnson of New York. 



In Colonial Days. 137 

the Ohio, under y s , y r Security, w l may You not do if 
You march over the Mount 5 the Beginning of Septbr. 
.... It's my duty to H. M'y, as Gov r of y s Domi'n, 
to make the above Proposal to You, w ch if it meets 
w th Y r Approbat'n or that of a Council of War, will 
give me much Pleasure." 

The Virginia Assembly roused itself to energy and 
voted quickly ,£40,000, with the help of which the 
Governor was to raise a force of 1,200 men. But 
the Council of War decided against this project of 
Dinwiddie and Colonel Dunbar's unauthorized action 
made it impossible. Although more than forty miles 
from the scene of Braddock's defeat and therefore 
not in immediate danger of an attack, which consid- 
ering the number of troops under his command he 
might easily have repulsed, he destroyed all the am- 
munition and provisions in his camp and in the mid- 
dle of summer marched with his whole force to 
Philadelphia to go into winter quarters. Governor 
Dinwiddie was in despair over this untoward break- 
ing down of his calculations and now could do nothing 
more than to make arrangements to protect the Eng- 
lish settlers and Indian allies on the frontiers. Unin- 
tentionally the French helped him by outrages, 
"devastation and murders""' in Indian villages on 
the Holston and New rivers. He ordered forts to 
be built on these two streams, probably next to 
Walker's, the first European establishments in that 
part of the present United States. Doctor Thomas 

* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 189. 
18 



138 The Ohio Valley 

Walker, belonging to an even at that time old or 
long-settled Virginia family, had crossed Powell's 
valley in 1748 and gave the name of Cumberland to 
the lofty range of mountains west of Virginia. The 
remarkable depression in this chain received from 
him the name of Cumberland Gap, and the Sha- 
wanese river that of Cumberland. In a previous 
chapter a map is mentioned which speaks of " Walk- 
er's, an English settlement," in 1750. Doctor Walker 
crossed Clinch and Powell rivers into Kentucky 
again in 1760, probably with Daniel Boone. Gover- 
nor Dinwiddie, through his agents, asked the Chero- 
kees to assist in keeping the French with their 
Shawanese allies out of this territory, and a party of 
130 Cherokees* joined 200 Virginia Rangers to 
attack the French Indians in their towns. f Their 
hoped for success was expected to be of great service, 
for these allies of the French committed " monstrous 
and barbarous murders in the back country." 

But French diplomacy and statescraft prepared 
unforeseen difficulties. The Creek Indians were 
induced by it to make war on South Carolina and 
their native allies, of whom the Chickasaws bore the 
first brunt, while French emissaries and priests were 
busy among the Catawbas and Cherokees. To coun- 
teract their efforts Governor Dinwiddie was obliged 
to put his hands into the public treasury and draw 
out ^500 for presents, which two members of his 

* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 294. 
f lb. 320. 



In Colonial Days. 139 

Council, Peter Randolph and William Byrd, were 
commissioned to bring to them. These agents had 
authority to enter into a treaty of alliance with the 
Cherokees and their allies, and for a wonder ! they 
succeeded, for which we may assume they were more 
indebted to the hatred of the French, aroused in the 
Indians' hearts, than to their skill in treating with a 
race, which though God's creatures like themselves, 
the English-speaking nations do not consider any 
more entitled to reasonable treatment, than an hun- 
gry wolf. 

The experiences of the preceding winter had 
already demonstrated that it would be necessary to 
punish our erratic friends, the Shawanoes. In No- 
vember, 1755, they were reported as having gone 
south to join the Creeks, who were enemies of the 
Cherokees.* This tribe, faithful to their English 
friends, sent, as stated before, a detachment of 130 
warriors to co-operate with Virginia Rangers in an 
attack upon the Shawanoe towns, and Major Andrew 
Lewis was appointed to the chief command of this 
expedition, f but after struggling for six weeks 
through the woods, it had to be declared unsuccess- 
ful. The rivers which were to be crossed, had over- 
flowed their banks, swollen by thawing snow and 
spring rains; canoes with provisions and ammunition 
were upset, and the valiant warriors were finally 
obliged to kill their horses for food. The Sandy 

* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 279. 
fib. 



140 The Ohio Valley 

Creek expedition, though well prepared and fairly 
well managed, had proved a failure, because no atten- 
tion had been paid to climatic conditions. A possible 
retaliation upon their Cherokee enemies by the Sha- 
wanoes and their friends, Indian and French, had, 
however, to be made ineffectual, and the best means 
for doing so was the construction of a fort in the 
Cherokee country. The Cherokees were willing to 
have an English fort in their country and Major 
Andrew Lewis was appointed to superintend the con- 
struction of it. In pursuance of the instructions 
given him by Governor Dinwiddie, Major Lewis was 
to march to Chotte,* in the country of the Cherokees, 
and to build there the fort, in which undertaking it 
was hoped, men sent by the Governor of South Caro- 
lina would assist. Although the South Carolinians 
were rather slow in coming to the work, Governor 
Dinwiddie could write to Major Lewis in August, 
1756^ •' I am very glad the fort was so forward 
when you wrote me, and that it was so agreeable to 
the Cherokees, w ch they write is entirely to their sat- 
isfaction." 

Governor Dinwiddie was wedded to the idea of 
driving the French out of the Ohio valley and having 
now secured a firm alliance with the Cherokees and 
presumably their friends, he began to plan a new 
expedition against the French, but he was met by 
unexpected obstacles to carry it out. " I am glad," 

* On or near Holston river, 
f Dinwiddie Papers, II, 486. 



In Colonial Days. 141 

he writes to Colonel Washington, May 8 th , 1756,* 
"the Ind' s are gone over the Ally Mount's, but I 
can't believe them so numerous as represented, unless 
they have prevailed upon the Twightwees to join 
with 'em, and I am of Opin'n if You c'd send a 
Message to them by some trusty Ind'n to let 'em 
know our Intent's ag l the Fr., and the No. of War- 
riors sent by Y r Father, the King, to exterpate the 
Fr. and to protect Y r Lands, they w'd continue Steddy 
in our Int't, for they will never forget the Insults and 
Murd's comitted ag st 'em by the Fr. in 1752. .. . As 
to a Plan of Operation, what can I concert, when our 
neighbouring are asleep and afford us no assistance ? 
No great Gunns or Engineers to attack their Fort, 
which I much desire to be on the offensive, but as 
we are now situated, we can only remain on the de- 
fencive to protect our frontiers." If the plan of 
union, proposed and discussed at Albany in 1754, 
had become operative, Governor Dinwiddie's plans 
might have found support in the other Colonies, for 
through Sir William Johnson's clever management 
the Shawanoes and Delawares, important allies of the 
French, had been induced to join the British. He 
had been stirred up to use his best efforts for this 
purpose, among others by the following letter, writ- 
ten at Philadelphia, by Daniel Claus.f April 5, 1756: 
."This Province is at present in the most deplorable 

* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 406. 
' f Lieutenant and later Captain 60 th (Roy 1 American) Reg'. Son-in-law of 
Sir W m and one of his deputies in Indian affairs. 



142 The Ohio Valley 

situation. The Governors Party and the Quakers 
(whose head is Mr. Franklin) are continually in dis- 
pute with one another and nothing but Confusion 
reigns here. The Enemy as reported is descending 
upon them with a body of 1600 strong. Mr. Peters 
is sometimes most distracted and dreads its ruin if 
things go on as they do. The 60,000 pounds raised 
lately are expended to one quarter and nobody knows, 
what good was done thereby. 

" The young man, that made his escape from King 
Shingo, the Delaware, says, that the Indians told 
him, how they found out, that the English and French 
had made an agreement to cut them off & then take 
their lands in possession, but that they would pre- 
vent that if possible, for saith they, if we only subdue 
the English first, we may do afterwards what we 
please with the French, for we have them as it were 
in a sheeps pen and may cut them off at any time, 
for they had no liberty to plant any corn yet, tho' 
they tried but it was forbid them & we told them, 
that we did not give them liberty to build that fort 
in order to make improvements, but only to fight 
against the English. 

" The people here were surprised, that the 6 
Nations at the last treaty had not agreed upon 
knocking the Delawares and Shawanoes in the head. 
Skarouyade told them, that the 6 Nations were re- 
solved to cut them off in case they would not listen 
to the message they sent now ; the Gov r & Council 
then were wondering that the treaty was mentioning 



In Colonial Days. 143 

nothing of the nature. I told them I did not hear 
the 6 Nations say any such thing in public nor be- 
lieved they believed they would undertake it, then 
Mr. Montour* said, it was agreed upon in some of 
their private councils. They are now upon promising 
rewards for scalps, £$0 a scalp & ^50 a prisoner, 
before they know the result of the 6 Nations upon 
the answer the Delawares are to give to their late 
message. I am afeared, they will make evil worse. 
They think the message to the Delawares upon Sus- 
quehanna was of no consequence or help, but mes- 
sages should have been sent to Ohio and the Indians, 
who live near Fort du Quesne."f Matters were evi- 
dently beginning to take a favorable shape, so that 
Goldsborough Banyar, Clerk of the N. Y. Council 
and an intimate friend of Sir William, could write 
him April 30, 1756: "I am glad to see the prospect 
increases of your accommodating matters between 
us and the Delawares and the Shawnese. Do not 
spare any powers to accomplish it, you can hardly do 
your King and country a more essential service and 
you'll win the hearts of the Quakers by it, (if that 
were a New York motive), who utterly disapprove of 
Gov r Morris (of Pennsylvania) Proclamation.":); 

This proclamation was a declaration of war against 
the Delaware and Susquehanna Indians. Though 
hostilities against the Indians, friendly to the British 

* Indian interpreter, frequently employed by Sir W m . 
f Sir W m Johnson Papers, N. Y. State Library, IV, 34. 
% lb. 40. 



144 The Ohio Valley 

interest, were forbidden at the same time, misrepre- 
sentations of the Pennsylvanian intentions not only 
alarmed the Six Nations, but threatened also to pre- 
vent the southern tribes from coming to the great 
meeting at Onondaga. Messengers traveled in all di- 
rections to counteract this bad impression and in July, 
1756, Sir William could open the Indian congress, 
attended by the New York Indians, and as the report 
of the proceedings* has it, " their allies and depend- 
ents, the Shawanese and Delawares." 

Monacatutha, the Half King,f speaking for these 
latter, said : " You desire to know of us, why those 
of our people, who have committed several murders 
upon the English have not appeared at this meeting 
and what were their reasons for their committing 
hostilities on their brethren without any provocation. 

" Brother, we know the reason and will tell you it 
here before the Six Nations and all present, for we 
are not afraid to speak the truth before any nation 
or people. Last year the French brought a powerful 
army into our country and soon after the English 
marched another army, which appeared to us like two 
Clouds hanging over us ; we looked on till the battle 
was over and then we found some of the Six Nations 
with the French hatchets in their hands killing the 
English and as we were in strict alliance with the Six 
Nations, we thought it our duty to do the same, yet 
we did not immediately strike. J Some of our young 

* Sir W m Johnson Papers, N. Y. State Library, IV. 77. 
f An Oneida chief. 

% From here to \% relates to the Shawanese on the Ohio according to a 
note in the original. 



In Colonial Days. 145 

men soon after killed some hogs belonging to the 
English, which exasperated the English so much, 
that they struck their hatchets into our heads and 
then we declared war against the English, but we 
have found, that we have acted wrone, for which 
reason we hope, our brethren, the English, will par- 
don us for what is past, as we laid down our hatchets, 
as soon as we were convinced we were wrong." J J 

The Shawanese King added : " We were first set- 
tled at Shahandowana (Wyoming) and upon our 
brothers application we left that place and came and 
settled upon a branch of Susquehannah. Brother, 
you may naturally conclude, we could have no bad 
intentions towards the English, by our removing 
nearer to them and I assure you, that we neither 
have been nor will be concerned in any hostilities 
against them." 

When a few days later the conference ended, all 
the troubles with the Delawares and Shawanese were 
considered settled, and in opposition to Morris of 
Pennsylvania, Governor Belcher of New Jersey disap- 
proved strongly of any warlike measures against the 
Indians, with whom Sir William Johnson had just 
treated.* The French at Fort du Ouesne, provisioned 
by way of the Illinois, were expecting, that the result 
of the Onondaga conference would be in their favor. 
The Marquis de Vaudreuil writes home in August, 
I756:f 

* Sir Wm Johnson Papers, IV, 87. 
t N. Y. Col. Hist., X, 436. 

19 



146 The Ohio Valley 

"The Iroquois of the vicinity of Fort du Ouesne 
have almost all retired to the mouth of Riviere aux 
Boeufs on a belt from the Five Nations. M. Dumas, 
Commander at Fort du Ouesne, is very glad to be 
rid of them. His affairs will only improve, as soon 
as he thoroughly understands the disposition of the 

Delawares and Shawanese towards them M. 

Dumas had received the provisions, which he had 

demanded from Illinois I knew that the route 

from the Illinois to Fort du Quesne was as fine as 
could be desired. Chevalier de Villiers, who com- 
manded the escort of these provisions, came up as 
far as Fort du Ouesne with a bateau of 18 thousand 
weight. This little convoy makes known to this 
Colony a sure communication with the Illinois, whence 
I can derive succor in provisions and men, sooner and 
more easily than from the heart of this Colony. 

" M. de Villiers' report shows more strongly than 
ever the necessity of erecting a fort at the falls* to 
secure that communication. ... I made in 1 746 the 
like representations to the Court, which authorized 
me to have that fort erected ; but its execution was 
neglected owing to circumstances and since then there 
has not been any further question of it." 

The Shawanese seem to have been a tribe, upon 
whose word little dependence could be placed, unless 
Marquis de Vaudreuil complacently deceives himself 
by continuing in the above letter as follows : " M. 
Dumas has sent me two young warriors, Chaouanons, 

* Now Louisville, Ky. 



In Colonial Days. 147 

who are attached to him. They have assured me, on 
the part of their chiefs and their entire nation, of the 
pleasure they experienced at seeing me ; that from 
the first moment they had learned of my arrival, they 
had wholly declared for the French ; that they have 
given me proof thereof in the battle we gave the 
army of General Braddock ; that they were resolved 
never to quit the French and to die with them. I 
have warmly received these Chaouanons. The wel- 
come I have eiven them will not fail to excite the 
envy of the other Indians on the Beautiful River to 
follow the same route." 

No doubt, perhaps, that the Shawanese and Dela- 
wares, conferring with Sir William Johnson, on July 
16, were in earnest, when they promised to live in 
peace with their English brethren, for in the days 
when no steamships raced across the Atlantic nor an 
electric wire carried sparks under it, news from 
Europe came much slower and the declaration of 
war, issued in London May 17, 1756, did not reach 
Northern New York before the end of July.* Their 
subsequent attitude justified, however, Vaudreuil's 
hope, for in the following December Edmund Atkin, 
Superintendent of Indian Affairs in the Southern 
Colonies, writes to the Lords of Trade :f " Sir Wil- 
liam (Johnson) told me, that the 6 Nations were 
weakened and in fact distressed, some of the West- 

* Governor Hardy, of New York, received the Declaration of War on the 
27th of July, while at Albany, and notified his subordinates of it from there. 
\ N. Y. Col. Hist. VII, 209. 



148 The Ohio Valley 

ern Nations having fallen off from their allegiance, 
and the Shawanese and such of the Delawares as live 
upon the Ohio, who had been subject to them, having 
been set up and supported in an Independency upon 
them by the French still continuing Hostilities 
against the People of some of our Colonies, contrary 
to their orders." The same Mr. Atkin successfully 
endeavored to reconcile the Iroquois of New York 
with the Southern Indians and to extract from them a 
permission for the Cherokeesand their allies, to make 
war on the Shawanese and Delawares of the Ohio 
Valley. Governor Dinwiddie had labored hard during 
the preceding summer, to keep the Cherokees in the 
British alliance, and had the satisfaction to find them 
eager for a fray with the French on the Ohio. A 
fort had been built in the Upper Cherokee country, 
which pleased the natives very much and " they have 
engaged to send in hear 400 of y r Warriors to pro- 
tect our front's. . . . The retain'g of these People in 
our Int't is an essential piece of Service at y s time, as 
the Fr. have been long endeavour'g to get them from 
us."* But the Governor had not taken into con- 
sideration that " the Indians are a most inconstant and 
unfix'd Set of Mortals, and laying aside all Treaties, 
Promises and Engagements, are always ready to 
Join with the strongest Side and no longer there 
than they have success."f Two months after he had 
rejoicingly reported that the Cherokees were firm in 

* Dinwiddie Papers, II, 520. 
fib. 539. 



In Colonial Days. 149 

the British interest, he learned that they were waver- 
ing and had to begin his negotiations with them 
anew with the result, that the report of their defec- 
tion was not perfectly true. At the same time came 
reports of " All quiet on the Frontiers," for the 
French and their Indians had not molested the back 
settlements, probably on account of the winter and 
consequent bad roads. 

The summer of 1757 saw no combined effort made 
to expel the French from the Ohio and we have only 
to note small skirmishes and military chess-playing. 
Lieutenant Baker, of Washington's detachment at 
Fort Loudon, with a scouting party of five soldiers and 
fifteen Cherokees had the good fortune to surprise 
and rout a similar party of French, of whom they 
killed two officers and captured the third, at the head 
of Turtle creek, two miles fromo Frt du Ouesne. 
The death of the Indian chief commanding the 
Cherokees prevented a pursuit of the flying enemy.* 

*N. Y. Coll. MSS., LXXXIV, 94. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Flag of S t George Floats Again over the 
Ohio Valley. 

Colonel John Stanwix, commanding the First Bat- 
talion of the Sixtieth or Royal American Regiment, 
was at this time in charge of the military affairs in 
the southern department with head-quarters at Car- 
lisle, Pennsylvania. The following letter, written by 
him to Governor Denny, of Pennsylvania, from 
"Camp near Carlisle," June 19, 1757, gives an insight 
into the difficulties, under which war was carried on 
in the Colonies even by such an experienced officer 
as Colonel Stanwix was, and affords also a picture of 
the condition of affairs. 

"... I only wait for Waggons to march for Ship- 
pensburgh, but when I shall be able to set out it is 
impossible to say, as in two days Notice I have yet 
been able to get but two Waggons. . . . The reasons 
of my moving is the hearing of Intelligence from 
Captain Dagworthy, who commands at Fort Dag- 
worthy, which I give you in his own words : 

"'Sir 

" ' Fort Cumberland, June 1 7, 1 757. 
" ' Six Cherokee Indians, who just now came from 
Fort Duquesne say, that six days ago they saw a 



The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days. 151 

large body of Troops march from that Garrison, with 
a Number of Waggons and a Train of Artillery and 
by their Rout must intend an Attack on this Garri- 
son. Two days afterwards these Indians saw the 
Army on their March on this side the place where 
General Braddock was defeated. 

"' Sir, yours etc John Dagworthy' 

"... Col. Washington thinks that their next object 
must be Fort Loudoun likewise in a bad Condition. 
Col. Washington intends to pursue the Resolution 
of a Council of War, which is, viz : "That as Rein- 
forcing this Garrison is absolutely necessary, that the 
Detached enfeebled Situation of the Garrisons on the 
South Branch must make them fall an easy Prey to 
the Enemy, and that as drawing them all to one place 
on the Branch would be giving up all the Settlements 
except that place, which (supposing it would be main- 
tained) would by no means be of such Consequence 
as reinforcing this Important place, that therefore 
they ought to be ordered here immediately."* 

A few days before Washington had informed him 
from Fort Loudon, that "if the Enemy is coming 
down in such numbers and with such a Train of Artil- 
lery, as we are bid to expect, Fort Cumberland must 
inevitably fall into their hands, as no Efforts can be 
timely made to save it."f 

Fort Cumberland, however, was not taken, not 
even invested, but the country along the border suf- 

* N. Y. Coll. MSS., LXXXIV, 97. 
f lb., LXXXIV, 95. 



152 The Ohio Valley 

fered from the incursions of the French Indians. 
The picture given of the condition of affairs by the 
Rev. Claude Godfroy Cocquard in a letter to his 
brother,* which describes Georgia, Carolina, Mary- 
land and Pennsylvania as "wholly laid waste," is 
perhaps overdrawn, the brush having been dipped too 
deep into French patriotism, for other English 
sources inform us, that the garrisons at Forts Loudon, 
Cumberland, etc., protected the farmers and settlers 
to the best of their abilities. The same Reverend 
Father reports under date of October 6, 1757, that a 
party of 300 English horsemen went to surprise or 
burn a Delaware village on the Ohio and that they 
were repulsed by five Canadians and the Indian in- 
habitants of the village, losing twenty-five killed and 
two prisoners. During the whole year 1,757 messages 
were carried to all the Indian tribes west of the Alle- 
ghanies to confirm their alliance with the French, for 
though he never confessed it in his letters, Gover- 
nor Yaudreuil must have felt that the closing scenes 
of this bloody drama were to be enacted shortly, and 
that as France with its war in Europe could not 
afford to support him sufficiently against the troops, 
which England was pouring into her Colonies, it be- 
hooved him to make the most of his Indian allies. 
His letter to M. de Machaultf dated April 19, 1757, 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., X, 52S, reprinted in Pennsylvania Arch., 2d Series, 
VI, 387- 

fjean Baptiste Machault d'Arnouville, President of the Grand Council 
173S, Comptroller-General of Finances 1745, Keeper of the Seals 1750, 
Minister of the Colonies 1754, exiled Jul}', 1757. Fort Machault on French 
creek, Pa., called after him. 



In Colonial Days. 153 

Qfives an account of his endeavors to secure the 
Indians in the French interest and the success he 
had : " In the letter (of Octob r 11) I did myself also 
the honor to observe that my negotiations with the 

Flatheads* were more and more successful A 

Canadian of Detroit, who has since several years 
been adopted by that Nation and to whom I had se- 
cretly transmitted a letter, that he should endeavor, 
without too marked a zeal, to induce the Flatheads 
to unite with the French, wrote to the Commandant 
of Fort du Quesne, that the Flatheads had received 
my message with pleasure ; that four of them were 
setting out to convey the message of the chiefs to 
the Hurons and to advise the Commandant of Fort 
du Quesne of the intentions of their nations. This 
Canadian added that he was himself going on the 
part of the Cherakees to carry their message to 
Mobile; that all the Indians were making arrange- 
ments to do well for the French. . . . This letter 
was confided to the Chaouanon chief of Sonniatof 
by two Flatheads, who were desirous of going to 
see the Commandant of Fort du Quesne, whilst the 
other messengers would proceed on with a Chaouanon 
chief to convey to Detroit the belt with which they 

were intrusted on the part of their chiefs The 

Flathead deputies arrived at Detroit and held a grand 
council with M. de Muy on the 10 th of January. 
They commenced by asking me for peace and 

* Choctaws on de l'lsle Map. 
f Scioto, Ohio. 
20 



154 The Ohio Valley 

testified to all the Indian Nations the desire they felt 
to be admitted into the number of our allies ; and as 
soon as they should learn my sentiments more posi- 
tively, than by the messages, transmitted to them in 
my name, they would return in greater numbers and 
with stronger messages. 

They asked pardon for all their faults and said : 
That they held on to the English by almost nothing 
and that their hand would slip from them the moment 
I should protect them and that all the nations were 
desirous of living in peace with them. 

That if I would promise to supply their wants as 
I did those of the other nations, they would entirely 
abandon and strike the English. 

The Chaouanons, who accompanied the Flatheads 
to Detroit, told them they had obeyed my message 

and had forthwith struck the English M. de 

Muy received by these messengers a letter from a 
Canadian, who is also adopted in that tribe, wherein 
he informs him, that the Cherakis and Flatheads are 
really desirous to wage war against the English. I 
have reason to believe, that the Flatheads have 
already commenced hostilities, because the Acadians 
who have deserted from Carolina have assured me, 
that the Cherakis and Chicachaws [Chickasaws] 
being gone to Virginia for their presents, had on 
their return home destroyed 500 English plantations,* 

* Governor Dinwiddie writes about the same time " We have had 148 
Cherokees, 124 Catawbas etc at Fort Loudoun. . . . The Cherokees have 
been guilty of many Disorders in marching through this Country and killed 
a Chickasaw Warrior. Dinwiddie Papers, II, 633. 



hi Colonial Days. 155 

which appears so little doubtful, that these Acadians 
assert having seen some of those very Englishmen, 
who had escaped from those Indians 

My principal object is to prevent the Flatheads 
from pronouncing against us ; I observe towards 
them the same policy, I have observed towards the 
Five Nations, because if these Flatheads attacked 
the nations on the Beautiful River, that would throw 
a damp on their ardor, and I even think, that our 
other nations would not go willingly to wage war 
against the English in those parts. 

I should dare flatter myself that I might succeed 
in getting these Flatheads to strike, had I the where- 
withal to supply their wants ; this I could not do, so 
long, as they will remain constantly in their villages, 
in as much as they will always be obliged to have re- 
course to the English and it is not natural to suppose, 
that they wish by declaring war against those English 
to expose themselves to a lack of everything, there- 
fore it is desirable we could afford them an asylum. 
This is a matter of more urgency than apparent. 
The English employ all their resources to induce 
those Nations to unite with them and it would be 
highly dangerous should they succeed, for they have 
projected the erection of a fort and the building of 
large bateaux in the villages of those Indians, for 
the purpose of going by the Ouabache to attack the 
Illinois or at least surprise the Louisiana convoys. 

It would be indispensable to establish a post at the 
falls of the Beautiful River, to secure the communi- 



156 The Ohio Valley 

cation of Canada with Louisiana The soil at 

these falls invites settlements. If we could have 
some permanent ones, we should hold the Flatheads 
and Cherakis in check."* 

The attitude of all the Indian tribes, living in or 
connected with the Ohio Valley, was a matter of 
importance not only to the French, but also to the 
English authorities. The purchase of large tracts 
of land, made at Albany by Pennsylvania in 1754, 
although consented to by some of the tribes in in- 
terest, had not the approval of all. The Six Nations 
expressed their dissatisfaction unreservedly at a meet- 
ing with Governor Denny, of Pennsylvania, held at 
Lancaster in May, 1757; they confirmed a report 
brought to Sir William Johnson by Margaret Wil- 
liams, + who had been a prisoner among the Dela- 
wares and upon her release had told, that she heard the 
Indians frequently and solemnly declare, they would 
never leave off killina- the English as Ions: as there 
was an Englishman living on their lands . . . . " which 
the English had cheated them out of." Other reports 
were still more alarming. Alexander McClure, of 
Pennsylvania, an Indian trader at Chenussio in the 
Seneca country, was told by a Delaware, coming 
from Niagara, that all the French Indians from the 
north side of the lakes were to destroy the Mohawk 
country and the Indians, living south of the lakes, 
and then attack Fort Cumberland and the Southern 



* N. Y. Col. Hist., X, 539, and Penn. Arch., 2d Series, VI, 395. 
fib., VII, 331. 



In Colo7iial Days. 157 

Colonies.* But British gold, added in large quanti- 
tities to British diplomacy, proved an irresistible 
agent and kept the wavering Indians fairly in the 
British interest. George Croghan, Sir William John- 
son's deputy in Pennsylvania, labored with the Dela- 
wares and some of the Six Nations so successfully at 
Easton, Pennsylvania, during July and August, 1757, 
that he could report, " the grand Council of the Six 
Nations, which sat two months, has unanimously 
agreed to oppose the French measures and hold fast 
by the chain of friendship subsisting between the 
English and them."f Mohawks and Senecas of the 
Six Nations and Cherokees from the south verified 
this to Sir William in a meeting at Fort Johnson, 
New York, in the following September: "We are 
warriors and our nation have lifted their ax against 
the French and are determined not to lay it down, 
whilst there is a man amongst us left alive."J The 
Cherokees appear to have been specially aroused 
against the French. Delegates from this nation with 
"several others from the Southward, viz.: Oghna- 
goes, Nanticokes and Connoys, had first consulted 
with the Six Nations, with the above result, and then 
extended an invitation to the English to renew and 
strengthen the covenant chain. "§ 

The year 1757, now drawing towards its close, had 
been an uneventful one in the Ohio Valley, as far as 

* Sir Wm. Johnson Papers, IV, 31. 

fN. Y. Col. Hist., VII, 285. 

X lb., 325. 

§ Sir Wm. Johnson Papers, IV, 148, 154. 



158 The Ohio Valley 

military operations are to be considered. But the 
political movements of the same year had been of 
importance for the whole question of French do- 
minion. The weakness of the English Ministry had 
become so patent in the spring of 1757, that Pitt, one 
of the most able statesmen of his day, had been 
called to its head. America was to him the object 
of the greatest solicitude. He relieved Loudoun 
from the command in the Colonies, for which he had 
shown only mediocre ability. The Colonies were 
admonished to recruit troops for an active campaign 
and encouraged to do so by a promise of having the 
expenses, incidental to such an increase of the army, 
refunded by the home government ; the Colonial 
military officers were given equal rank with the offi- 
cers of the Royal troops. All this infused new life 
into the attempts to drive the French out. 

Three expeditions were planned by the English, 
two of which must be mentioned here, because their 
results affected the proceedings of the third against 
Fort du Quesne. The first against Louisburg, under 
Amherst and Wolfe, deprived the French of about 
6,000 soldiers, who became prisoners of the English 
forces upon the fall of Louisburg. The second, un- 
der Abercrombie and Howe, which was to attack 
Crown Point and Ticonderoga and thereby open a 
new road to Canada, was not so successful. Lord 
Howe fell and the more or less incompetent Aber- 
crombie, his successor in command, managed to lose 
2,000 men. But a detachment of this army, com- 



In Colonial Days. 1 59 

manded by Colonel Bradstreet, had the good luck to 
strike a blow, which was decisive for the fate of Fort 
du Ouesne. Fort Frontenac and the French navy on 
Lake Ontario, fell into the hands of this officer on 
the 27th of August, 1758. This loss threw the 
French authorities into consternation. " Every thing 
is now to be feared for Fort Niagara," says M. Doreil, 
commissioner of war, in a letter to Marshall de Belle 
Isle, announcing the disaster. " Canada is lost, if 
peace be not made this winter."* 

" We are expecting news from the Beautiful River, 
where a corps of 8,000 men was to operate under the 
orders of General Forbes," writes Montcalm to M. 
de Cremille, Assistant Minister of War, in Octo- 
ber, i758.f He probably did not expect these news 
to be very cheerful, for he writes at the same time to 
Marshall de Belle Isle, the Minister of War, that M. 
de Lig-neris, the commander at Fort du Ouesne, and 
M. de Vaudreuil, Governor of Canada, are of opinion 
General Forbes would have, besides his white troops, 
a great many Indians with him. " The Five Nations," 
says he, " are always assuring us of their attachment 
and receiving presents from the English. Their 
hearts are with the latter and their fears with us."^ 

The first attempt of the English to recover Fort 
du Quesne was not successful. General Forbes had, 
for good military reasons, followed Washington's ad- 

* N. Y. Col. Hist., X, 819. 
fib., 856. 
t lb., 861. 



160 The Ohio Valley 

vice and taken a different road from that of Brad- 
dock's. On his march through the wilderness he 
built Fort Bedford, at Raystown, and finally reaching 
the Loyalhannon creek, fifty miles from du Ouesne, 
he established his head-quarters there settling, down 
for a diplomatic campaign with the Indians, in which 
he was effectually assisted by an agent, Christian 
Frederik Post, sent by Governor Denny, of Penn- 
sylvania.* Military operations were, however, not 
neglected, and at first they led to disaster. Major 
James Grant, of the Montgomerie Highlanders, 
started out with a command of about 800 men from 
the camp on the Kiskiminitas, for an expedition 
against Fort du Ouesne. On the third day of their 
march, the 15th of September, 1758, they were within 
a quarter of a mile from the fort. From here Major 
Grant sent out a detachment to attack all the Indians 
and others found outside of the fort ; they saw none 
nor were they seen by any body of the enemies, but 
in returning they foolishly announced their presence 
by setting fire to a large store-house, upon which they 
had stumbled. This, very naturally, aroused the 
French, who immediately made a sally and drove the 
enemy off. French accounts claim that the English 
speedily took to their heels and were pursued for two 
hours, losing between 600 and 700 men. Major 
Grant, four other officers and about 100 men were 
taken prisoners. From English reports we know 

* See Second Journal of C. F. Post, London, 1759. 



In Colonial Days. 161 

only, that Major Grant was captured and the whole 
expedition frustrated.* 

But the days during which the French could main- 
tain themselves at Fort du Quesne were numbered. 
The capture of Fort Frontenac and of the fleet on 
Lake Ontario made it impossible to increase the gar- 
rison of the fort or to supply it with provisions. 
Even the small victory gained in September became 
a source of increased weakness, for the Indians, hith- 
erto acting under French orders, who had helped to 
repulse Major Grant's command, immediately on re- 
turning from their pursuit, quitted Fort du Quesne 
to seek their villages. De Ligneris and his officers 
found it impossible to retain them. 

This defection of near 600 Indian warriors reduced 
the number of troops garrisoning du Quesne, to barely 
1,000, commanded by Marchand de Lignery, an offi- 
cer of considerable military experience, gained during 
more than twenty years' service in America, f Vau- 
dreuil and Montcalm were not in position to send suc- 
cor to the threatened post, the occupants of which had 
learned by intuition, that Forbes intended to capture 
it, even if it took the whole of the ensuing winter to do 
it. Illness kept this General more abed, than he prob- 
ably liked. He complained that he had to spend, his 
time " between business and medicine," but his stub- 
born Scotch head knew not such words as " give up." 

* N. Y. Col. Hist., X, 884. 888, 902. 

f He made the campaign against the Fox Indians (1732), against the Chica- 
saws at Fort i'Assomption. Tenn. (1739). against the Mohawks with Chev. 
de la Come (1747). 
21 



1 62 The Ohio Valley 

"I have the Pleasure and Honour," he writes to 
Governor Denny, of Pennsylvania, from " Fort du 
Ouesne or now Pittsburg," on Nov br 26, 1758, "of 
Acquainting you with the Signal Success of his 
Majesty's Troops over all his Enemys on the Ohio, 
by having obliged them to Burn and abandon their 
Fort du Ouesne, which they effectuated on the 24 th 
Instant, And of which I took Possession with my 
little Army the next Day."* 

Captain de Ligneris having destroyed all he could, 
according to orders received for such an emergency, 
retired to Fort Machault.f He was to remain here 
for various purposes, first to support the Indians who 
had remained faithful to the French interest, and 
then to annoy the English and force them to a diver- 
sion. The Marquis de Vaudreuil argued that the 
enemy would find it extremely difficult to make a 
movement towards Lake Erie because of the consid- 
erable preparations and obstacles attending efforts to 
provision a large force in a country " where the 
ground is capable of being defended inch by inch. "J 
He had ordered the commanders at the Illinois and 
at Detroit to send to Presqu'ile all the men they could 
spare, and did not relinquish the hope of once more 
having the Fleur de Lys replace the Cross of St. 
George over Fort du Ouesne. It appeared to him 
an easy matter, if he or his subordinates, only could 

* Pennsylvania Archives, VIII, 232. 

f At the mouth of French Creek, Pennsylvania. 

% N. Y. Col. Hist., X, 952. 



In Colonial Days. 163 

induce the Indians of that section to take up the 
hatchet against the English. 

But the Indians had discovered, that the French 
treasury had become so thoroughly depleted, that the 
officers of this nation could no longer compete in 
quantity and quality of presents with the English, 
hence the reports from Canada in April, 1759, had to 
say, that the Indian nations on the Beautiful River 
had undoubtedly made their peace with the English 
since the loss of Fort du Quesne. For the security 
of their reconquered possession troops poured into 
the disputed territory to reinforce the post of Fort 
Pitt and assist in establishing and garrisoning the 
new fortifications considered necessary. The first 
of these new posts on the Attique river,* built be- 
fore the preceding winter had set in, had already 
served the English at a somewhat critical moment. 
Captain Aubry, commanding some Louisiana troops, 
sent to help their brethren on the Ohio, had fallen 
upon a detachment of British soldiers, killed and cap- 
tured about 150 of them, and sent the rest to take 
refuge in this fort in November, 1758.! Other 
strongholds were built by the English, " one above the 
village of the Shawanoes,^ another at the river aux 
Cannes, § whence they proposed to proceed to the 

* Loyalhannon, later Fort Ligonier, Westmoreland Co., Penn. 

fN. Y. Col. Doc, X, 901. 

% A map in the " American Gazetteer, London, 1762, has " Shawnoah or 
Lower Shawnoes (at the mouth of Elk creek), an English factory 400 miles 
from the Forks (of the Mississippi) by water." Another English factory is 
marked near " White Woman's creek, a tributary of the Muskingum." 

§ Perhaps Cane Creek, Lincoln Co., Tenn. 



164 The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days. 

Illinois, and a third, which they called Fort Loudon, 
on the river of the Cherakis, whereby they are en- 
abled to keep in check the nations toward Louisiana. 
Half the Flathead nation is entirely on their side 
and the other half wavers. The Cherokees have 
allowed themselves to be gained by the presents of 
the English ; so that above and below the Beautiful 
River we need not flatter ourselves with finding any 
allies amono; the Indians."* 

The result was that M. de Lignery was compelled 
to abandon Fort Machault in July, 1759, and the 
Ohio Valley saw no more French troops marching to 
meet or to evade an English foe. 

*N. Y. Col. Doc, X. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Indian Wars. 

" While the sovereigns of France, England and 
Spain were signing the treaty of Paris (Febr y 10 th , 
1763), countless Indian warriors in the American 
forests were singing the war-song and whetting their 
scalping knives."* 

We must look for the reason of this distressing 
state of affairs to the ignorance and arrogance of the 
English race. Their contact with other races has, 
even now, not yet taught them that these other races 
are as much creatures of the God whom all worship, 
as the English. They forget that the red Indian is 
a being who has, like everybody else, certain rights, 
which must be respected, if no bloodshed and ravage 
is desired. 

In the days of which this chapter is to speak, the 
Indians were still a powerful factor in Colonial politics 
and required diplomatic treatment ; the more so as 
many tribes regretted to see the French overpowered. 
But British diplomatic acumen had been dulled by 
the victory and the English agents became now over- 

*Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac. 



1 66 The Ohio Valley 

bearing, instead of conciliating the former allies of 
the French and making them firm friends of the con- 
querors. The dissatisfaction of the Ohio Indians, 
dating since the Albany conference in 1754, and since 
then smoothed over, revived and spread into all the 
tribes from Lake Superior to the Great Kanawha, and 
from the Alleghany mountains to the Mississippi. 
These sentiments of discontent grew with the injus- 
tice and neglect meted out to the Indians by the 
English, who thought that their friendship was now 
of no consequence, and curtailed the supplies of 
powder, etc., upon which the red man had learned to 
rely for gaining a livelihood. 

Sir William Johnson had warned the Lords of 
Trade in August, 1762, of the uneasiness among the 
Indians and had stated, what he feared would be the 
consequences, giving at the same time his opinion on 
the best method of preventing an outbreak.* While 
still continuing his warnings, the first blow was struck 
by the Indians. 

Pontiac, an Ottawa chief of great intrepidity and 
eloquence, who with his warriors had helped to de- 
feat Braddock in 1755, had gathered about him the 
dissatisfied members of the Chippeways, Miamis, 
Delawares, Shawanese and other tribes with inten- 
tion of driving the English from the territory west 
of the Alleghany mountains. We cannot help ad- 
miring the successful manner, in which he concealed 
his designs, when we consider the large number of 

* Sir Wm. Johnson Papers. 



In Colonial Days. 167 

individuals necessarily cognizant of this conspiracy 
and the vast area affected by it. 

A detachment of English troops, commanded by 
Lieutenant Cuyler and on the way to relieve Detroit, 
had been defeated, Sandusky had been destroyed, 
Forts St. Joseph at the mouth of the river St. Joseph, 
near the head of Lake Michigan, and Fort Michilli- 
mackinack had fallen into the hands of the Indian 
conspirators before the Ohio Valley proper was made 
to feel the disturbance. Fort Ouatanon, on the 
Wabash, a little below the present town of la Fayette, 
was taken by a stratagem on the 1st of June, 1763. 
It might perhaps be more appropriate to say the Eng- 
lish garrison of Ouatanon became the prisoners of the 
Indians by the careless arrogance of the command- 
ant, Lieutenant Edward Jenkins, who had walked 
into the Indian quarters unattended, for a confer- 
ence, and was immediately bound, whereupon the rest 
of the garrison surrendered without resistance.* 

Presqu'Isle, on the shore of Lake Erie, followed 
with considerable loss of English lives, and this neces- 
sarily led to the fall of the neighboring little posts 
of Le Boeuf and Venango. 

Le Boeuf had been built by the French when they 
first came to occupy the Ohio Valley in 1753. It 
stood on the south or west fork of French creek, 
almost surrounded by it and a small branch, of which 
it forms a kind of island. Four housesf composed 

* Parkman, Conspiracy. 

\ " Built of wood stokadoed Triangularwise and has two Logg Houses in 
the inside." Deposition of Stephen Coffen, prisoner of the French since 
1747, made January 10, 1754. N. Y. Col. MSS. 



1 68 The Ohio Valley 

the sides ; the bastions were of poles driven into the 
ground, standing more than twelve feet above it and 
sharp at the top, with port-holes cut for cannons and 
loop-holes for small arms. Eight cannons were 
mounted in each bastion and one four-pounder before 
the gate. In the bastions were a guard-house, a 
chapel, surgeon's lodgings and commandant's private 
store. It stood on the present site of Waterford, 
Erie county, Pennsylvania, and the Indian name of 
the place was Casewago.* 

Venango, at the confluence of French creek and 
the Alleghany river, was still an Indian town when 
Washington passed through it on his mission to Le- 
Gardeur de S l Pierre, the commander of the French 
at le Boeuf, in 1753. An English trader, Fraser, 
had established himself here and had been the first 
to suffer from the Gallic invasion. The forces sta- 
tioned at le Boeuf constructed here, about 1755, a 
fort or an outpost for the upper posts, and in 1855, it 
is said, the ruins of Fort Venango or Fort Machault 
were still visible at Franklin, Pennsylvania. It had 
been 400 feet square, with embankments eight feet 
high.f 

Up to the latter end of May the Indians around 
Fort Pitt and the growing settlement there had re- 
frained from doing harm to the white intruders. It 
is true, they acted in a manner to excite suspicion, 
but it would not have done for an Englishman to 

* Penna. Archives, XII, 387, and Penna. Col. Rec, V, 659. 

f Sargent, Braddock's Expedition, p. 41. Egle's Pennsylvania, 694, 1123. 



In Colonial Days. 169 

take any notice of it. The blow came sudden. " We 
have most melancholy Accounts here. — The Indians 
have broke out in several places and murdered 
Colonel Clapham and his Family ; also two of our 
Soldiers at the Saw-mill, near the Fort, and two 
Scalps are taken from each man. . . . Last Night 
eleven Men were attacked at Beaver Creek* eight or 
nine of whom, it is said, were killed — And Twenty- 
Five of Macrae's and Allison's Horses, loaded with 
Skins, are all taken. "f The Delawares and Shawa- 
nese did not intend to be behind their red brethren 
on the lakes, in avenging themselves on the Eng- 
lish for more or less real and fancied wrongs, suffered 
at their hands. 

Captain Ecuyer, in command at Fort Pitt, was 
able to keep the enemy out of this, by them so cov- 
eted stronghold. " The Savages have absurdly made 
a show of attacking Fort Pitt and some of the Posts 
below, but have not made any impression on the 
smallest post on that communication," writes Sir 
Jeffrey Amherst, July 23, 1763. J 

In this part of the country the Indians fared 
even worse. Not only could they not make " any 
impression " on any post, but they even suffered de- 
feat. They had extended operations to the eastern 
side of the Alleghany river as far as Fort Augusta§ 

* Beaver creek empties into the Ohio below Pittsburg, 
f From Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 1798. , 
% N. Y. Col. Doc, VII, 529. 
§ Now Sunbury, Pennsylvania. 
22 



170 The' Ohio Valley 

on the Susquehanna and other places outside the 
valley of the Ohio. But within the Ohio limits Fort 
Ligonier, on Loyalhannon creek, had been furiously 
attacked by Indians about the same time as le Boeuf 
and Venango to the north. They had been beaten 
after a hard day's righting. Meanwhile troops were 
advancing from the east to take a hand in this Indian 
drama. They were commanded by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Henry Bouquet,* a Swiss officer of the 
Royal Americans, who had marched over this road 
with General Forbes a few years before. He met 
the foe near Bushy Run, about ten miles east of 
Pittsburgh, on the 5th and 6th of August, " engaged 
them from noon to night successfully, but returned 
at night to cover the provisions and the wounded. 
The next day the Indians surrounded the little army 
and advanced to the attack furiously, but Colonel 
Bouquet had made such a disposition to receive them, 
and the behavior of the troops was so firm and reso- 
lute, that the Savages gave way, had not the courage 
to support their attempt and were pursued for a con- 
siderable distance with great slaughter. The Eng- 
lish loss was 50 men killed and 60 wounded. "f 

A few days later, on the 11th of August, Colonel 
Bouquet could date his report to the Commander-in- 
Chief, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, from Fort Pitt, and say : 
" We Arrived here Yesterday without further Oppo- 

* He had originally been an officer in the army of the King of Sardinia, 
joined the troops of Holland in 1755 and then the Royal Americans. 
fN. Y. Col. Doc, VII, 545. 



In Colonial Days. i 7 1 

sition than Scattered Shots along the Road. The 
Delawares, Shawanese, Wyandots and Mingoes had 
closely Beset and Attacked this Fort from the 27 th 
July to the First Instant, when they Quitted it to 
March against us."* 

The country south of Fort Pitt and further down 
the Ohio was not allowed to remain undisturbed. 
The population of the intervales in the present West 
Virginia was still a thin one and scattered, but large 
enough to excite the bloodthirstiness of the Indians. 
Virginia had contributed her share for the protection 
of the frontier settlements by sending Colonel Adam 
Stephens with 400 to 500 militia to Forts Cumber- 
land and Bedford in the Potomac region, while a 
similar body of men under Colonel Lewisf marched 
to the southwestern frontier for the same purpose, 
but could not prevent the butchering of the people 
living at the little settlement of Greenbrier and as- 
sembled at the fortified house of Archibald Glenden- 
ning.J 

Pennsylvania had done nothing to protect her fron- 
tiers and the people there, so that Sir Jeffrey Amherst 
cannot be blamed for writing : " What a contrast 
this [the sending of troops under Stephens and 
Lewis] makes between the conduct of the Pennsyl- 
vanians and Virginians, highly to the honor of the 

* Extract from MS. Letter in Parkman, Conspiracy of Pontiac, 342. 
f Colonel Andrew Lewis commanded in the Sandy Point expedition, 1774, 
and was a brigadier-general during the War of the Revolution. 
\ Parkman, Conspiracy, 3S3. 



1 72 The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days. 

latter, but places the former in the most despicable 
light imaginable."* It required Bouquet's march and 
the victory at Bushy Run to show to the Pennsylva- 
nians, that the savage foe could be checked in his 
bloody proceedings, but the operations of James 
Smith, Armstrong and others, took place east of the 
Ohio Valley limits. 

The success at Bushy Run allowed Bouquet to 
take possession of Fort Pitt without further contest 
and to follow up his warfare against the Indian set- 
tlements beyond the Ohio and near the Muskingum. 
The appearance of Bouquet and his army in this 
neighborhood spread terror and awe among the na- 
tive tribes, who now reluctantly surrendered the white 
captives made during the disturbance, f 

*N. Y. Col. Doc, VII, 546. 

f Historical Account of Bouquet's Expedition, 1764, reprinted by Robert 
Clarke & Co., Cincinnati, 1868. 



CHAPTERJX. 

North and West of the Ohio River. 

The first white man to erect a dwelling in Ohio 
was the Moravian missionary, Christian Frederic 
Post, known to be a sagacious and able man, who 
had great influence among the Indians ; he was sent 
in 1 75 1 and 1758 by the Governor of Pennsylvania 
on a mission to the Delawares, Shawanoes and Min- 
goes living then on the Ohio and its northern 
tributaries, a territory which, after its acquisition by 
the treaty of Paris, was declared Crown land by 
King George's proclamation of October 7, 1763. 
This proclamation forbade the King's "loving sub- 
jects" to make purchases of land from the Indians or 
to form settlements " westward of the sources of 
the rivers which fall into the sea from the West and 
North-West."* The royal proclamation gave as 
reason for this policy, that it was necessary to con- 
vince the Indians of English justice by preventing 
irregularities, and it may be that in 1763, this was 
thought to be a good and sufficient reason. 

Royal proclamations and orders had, however, 

* London Magazine, 1763, pp. 541, et seq. 



1 74 The Ohio 1 Valley 

little weight with the settler and the hunter, who 
lived principally by the products of the chase, 
and who, by penetrating into the tabooed regions, 
had helped to bring on the Indian war of 1764. This 
war had put a stop to the enterprises of the Ohio 
and the other land companies which were now re- 
vived under a plan to buy out the French settlers in 
the Illinois country.* But the scheme proved infeas- 
ible and the earlier projects were all merged into 
" Walpole's Grant," later called the " Colony of Van- 
dalia." The Lords Commissioners for Trade and 
plantations were opposed to this scheme, fathered 
by Thomas Walpole, and reported against it.f A 
recent writer on this point| says : " Such in clear 
and specific terms was the cold and selfish policy, 
which the British crown and its ministers habitually 
pursued towards the American Colonies." 

Lord Hillsborough, as Secretary of State, had ap- 
proved and recommended to the King for confirma- 
tion the treaty made at Fort Stanwix in 1768, by 
which the boundary line between the Colonies in 
America and the Indians was settled. The territory 
west of that line was acknowledged to be Indian 
property. This was not always considered an obstacle 
in English eyes preventing the issue of a patent,§ 

* Bigelow's Franklin, I, 537; II, 112. 

f Appendix F. 

\ Dr. W. F. Poole in Chap. IX, The West, Winsor's Narrative and Crit- 
ical History, Vol. VI. 

§ N. Y. Col. Doc, VII, 913, " An Indian conveyance of the soil is un- 
necessary." 



hi Colonial Days. i 75 

but it seems Lord Hillsborough had what was most 
likely then called " old-fashioned ideas" on the sub- 
ject, for it was then, as to-day, an accepted truth, that 
the Indian had no rights, which a white man was 
bound to respect. We can, therefore, hardly call it 
a "cold and selfish policy" if the Secretary of State 
recalls the principle of confining the western extent 
of settlements to the boundary line established by 
treaty, especially as the English ministers had been 
warned that " the affairs of land are more imme- 
diately interesting and alarming to the Indians than 
any thing else."* 

Lord Hillsborough further says in the above-quoted 
report, that the object of colonizing in North America 
had been to improve and extend commerce, and that 
if the western wilderness were invaded by settlers 
the fur trade would suffer. This is truly a selfish 
policy, but it was not so much ministerial as de- 
manded by the dealers in American goods scattered 
all over England, while the policy of the people 
living in the Colonies was no less selfish. They were 
all concerned either in trade or in lands ; that is, in 
the pursuit of gain, and, therefore, were opposed to 
all limitations by the government, without considering 
that though these limitations might be inconvenient 
to a few adventurous traders and pioneers, the weal 
of the community demanded them. 

Sir William Johnson, the Superintendent for In- 

*N. Y. Col. Doc, VII, 913, "An Indian conveyance of the soil is un- 
necessary." 



i 76 The Ohio Valley 

dian Affairs in the Northern Department, a man than 
whom probably no one else was better acquainted 
with Indian policy, had several years before Pontiac's 
war warned the authorities in the respective Colonies, 
not to exasperate the aborigines along the Ohio by 
too much land-grabbing At the Congress held at 
Albany, New York, in 1754, the Indians proposed 
the Alleghany mountains as the western boundary of 
the Colonies,* but the purchase made then by Penn- 
sylvania and the subsequent appearance of surveyors 
on the Juniata and Susquehannah, induced the Dela- 
wares, Shawanoes, Nanticokes and others settled in 
that vicinity, to withdraw either to Diohogo or to 
the Ohio. The hatred of the Delawares against the 
English had become so intense, that they swore 
to themselves never to leave off killing Englishmen 
as long as there was one of this nation living on 
their lands, f 

George Croghan, Sir William's deputy, who had 
long lived and traded with the natives west of the 
Ohio river, suggested to the Lords of Trade in 
17644 that a natural boundary should be made be- 
tween the Indians and the English from the heads of 
the Delaware river in New York, to the mouth of 
the Ohio, in order to prevent a general defection of 
the Indians, which was always probable if the upper 
Senecas and a few other tribes settled near Detroit 



*Sir William Johnson Papers, IV, 124. 
\ lb., 156. See, also, Appendix G. 
\ lb., V, 603, 605. 



In Colonial Days. 177 

and Michilimackinack, while Shawanoes and Dela- 
wares sat on the " branches " of the Ohio. 

The men in authority, hundreds of miles away from 
the " frontiers," paid no attention to the warnings of 
their agents, and Pontiac's war was the consequence 
of arousing the Indians' jealousies by encroaching 
too near upon them, by taking possession of the lakes 
and by stopping the distribution of ammunition, etc., 
among them.* 

Can we, under these circumstances, call Lord 
Hillsborough's adverse report on the petition of 
Thomas Walpole, "cold and selfish policy?" The 
report did not meet with the approval of Doctor Ben- 
jamin Franklin, upon whose extended and vigorous 
reply to itf the Privy Council granted the prayer of 
the petitioners. The grant made provisions for se- 
curing to the Virginia soldiers, who had served in the 
French war, the lands promised for their respective 
services, but the breaking out of the Revolution 
stopped all further proceedings and the Colony of 
Vandalia died in its inception. Although this in- 
tended new colony was partly outside of the limits 
of the Ohio Valley, it requires mention here, for 
some flourishing towns in the same valley owe their 
prosperity to the scheme. George Croghan, when 
in London in 1764, reported that there was a talk in 
town about " settling a colony from the mouth of 

* Sir William Johnson Papers, VII, 162. 
f Sparks' Franklin, IV, et seq. 
23 



178 The Ohio Valley 

the Ohio to the Illinois."* This region had already 
a French settlement at Fort Chartres on the Kaskas- 
kias river, built in 1720, repaired in 1750, and finally 
abandoned in iyj2.j- 

It was thought, that by the cession of territory 
made by the treaty of Paris, the country lying west 
of the Ohio to its mouth and up the Mississippi had 
become the boundary between the two nations late 
at war, and that as the French would undoubtedly 
settle on the west side of the Mississippi it might be 
good policy to purchase from the Indians the lands 
east of that river. $ But the French still had pos- 
session of their establishment in this coveted terri- 
tory and the proposition was made to capture Fort 
Chartres, as that would establish English authority 
among the savages with respect and safety. § The 
expedition planned against the fort by Colonel Brad- 
street, did, however, at first, not meet with the ap- 
proval of the Indians, and when they finally withdrew 
their objection to the plan of dispossessing the 
French, they stipulated that the taking possession of 
the forts formerly held by the French should not be 
considered as a title for the English to possess the 
country, as they never had sold any part of it to the 
French. | 

It is difficult to understand the Colonial Indian 

* Sir William Johnson Papers, VIII, 202. 
f Stoddard, Sketches of Louisiana, 234. 
% N. Y. Col. Doc, VII, 605. 
§ lb., 693. 
|| lb., 781. 



In Colonial Days. 179 

policy of the English authorities. Traders, from 
whom the western Indians could draw their supplies 
of powder and other Indian goods, were not allowed 
to go from Detroit or Michilimackinack and there- 
fore, says Croghan in 1 765, " I am of opinion the 
Indians will be supplied this year chiefly from the 
Illinois, which is all French property, and if trading 
posts are not established at proper places in that 
country soon the French will carry the best part of 
the trade over the Mississippi."* The proposition 
to take possession of the territory near the mouth of 
the Ohio, made by Colonel Bradstreet in 1 764, had 
not yet been acted upon in 1766, when Sir William 
Johnson reported to the Lords of Trade on "the 
Artfull measures taken by the French in that (the 
Illinois) Country, for securing the Indians affections 
and engrossing the Trade, the better to accomplish 
which they have begun two settlements on the West 
side of the River above Fort Chartres, where they 
have already large Magazines for Trade and Presents, 
with able agents to carry on their designs, in which 
they will be farther aided by the French of Illinois 
and it is added that many of the latter are withdraw- 
ing from their old abode to the side occupied by the 
French."f Sir William continued to urge the neces- 
sity of occupying the French posts in that distant 
part of the British dominions, although he saw how 
difficult it would be to keep them in case of a new 

*N. Y. Col. Doc, VII, 788. 
fib., 816. 



i So The Ohio Valley 

war with France, and in September. 1767, he could 
report, that Fort Chartres was held by an English 
garrison. 

Maps, mentioned in a previous chapter, speak of 
an old fort at the mouth of the Ohio, without giving 
its name. M. de MacCarty, the French officer com- 
manding at Fort Chartres in 1760, placed some 
Indians near Fort Massiac, in June, who abandoned 
this position in October of the same year, being 
menaced by a strong party of the enemy. He then 
caused the fort to be " terraced, fraized and forti- 
fied, piece upon piece, with a good ditch. "* Was 
this the first settlement of Cairo, Illinois ? 

In 1735 a Canadian, M. Vincennes, opened a trad- 
ing house on the Wabash, which was later called 
Post Vincent, but which we know to-day as the flour- 
ishine town of Vincennes. " Thus beq-an the com- 
monwealth of Indiana."f M. Vincennes was cruelly 
put to death by Chickasaw Indians in the following 
year, but the settlement did not die with its founder, 
growing with the necessary slowness of such enter- 
prises in the past ages. George Croghan, sent to the 
Western Indians with messages, arrived there in 
June. 1765, and found Post Vincent, "a French vil- 
lage of about 80 houses, and an Indian village 
of the Pyankeshas."J Further up the same river 
Wabash Frenchmen were settled at Ouiatanon, 

* N. Y. Col. Doc, X, 1092. 

f Monette, I, 165; Bancroft, III, 346. 

% N. Y. Col. Doc, VII, 780. 



In Colonial Days. 181 

now Lafayette, Indiana, of whom with others at 
Post Vincent, Miamis, etc., Sir William complains as 
" sufficient to engross all the trade in them parts."* 
He calls them " French familys of the worst sort."f 

In a representation made by the Lords of Trade 
and Plantations upon the general state of Indian 
affairs and the establishment of posts on March 7, 
I768,J they discuss the question of a new govern- 
ment or colony at the mouth of the Ohio river and 
point out that the great distance of this and two 
other Colonies in the Illinois country and at Detroit, 
would increase instead of lessening the expenses of 
the civil as well as military establishment, but in the 
main they are in favor of such undertakings. Not- 
withstanding this propitious report, Lord Hills- 
borough, as President of the Board of Trade and 
Plantations in 1772, disapproved of the Walpole 
scheme of colonization, as has been told above. At 
the same time he had been informed by Sir William 
Johnson,§ that as the Kickapoos and Poutawatamies, 
incited by the jealousy of French traders, were con- 
stantly committing robberies and murders, the estab- 
lishment of some kind of authority on the Wabash 
was required, the more so perhaps, as the lawless 
colony of French there daily increased in numbers. 
But the indecision of the home government delayed 
matters in this quarter. The Earl of Dartmouth, 

*N. Y. Col. Doc, VII, 777. 

f lb., 71b. 

X lb., VIII, iqet seg 

§ lb., 292. 



1 82 The Ohio Valley 

who had succeeded Lord Hillsborough as Colonial 
Secretary, was, in 1773, still in doubt whether a gov- 
ernment on the Ohio could be established, and 
required the assurance by Sir William Johnson 
that the Six Nations were unanimously in favor of 
the proposition. We may suppose that all steps for 
creating the new Colonial government were being 
considered with proper English slowness, when 
Michael Cresap's onslaught on some Ohio Indians 
imperiled the execution of the plan. The traders 
living in the country were driven away or murdered 
by the infuriated Shawanoes and it required all the 
skill of which Alexander McKee, Sir William John- 
son's deputy on the Ohio, and Captain Arthur St. 
Clair, then in command at Fort Ligonier, Pennsyl- 
vania, were capable, to prevent a general Indian out- 
break, which might have proved disastrous to the 
population west of the Ohio, characterized by Sir 
William as "dissolute fellows, united with debtors, 
and persons of wandering disposition, who have been 
removing from Pennsylvania and Virginia etc for 
more than ten years past into the Indian Country, 
towards & on the Ohio and had made a considerable 
number of settlements as early as 1765, when my 
Deputy [Croghan] was sent to the Illinois, from 
whence he gave me a particular account of the un- 
easiness it occasioned amongst the Indians, many of 
these emigrants are idle fellows, that are too lazy to 
cultivate lands & invited by the plenty of game they 
found, have employed themselves in hunting, in which 



In Colonial Days. 183 

they interfere much more with the Indians, than if 
they pursued agriculture alone, and the Indian hunt- 
ers .... already begin to feel the scarcity this has oc- 
casioned, which greatly increases their resentment." -31 
Cresap's attack on the Indians brought on what is 
known as "Cresap's" or " Dunmore's War." Lord 
Dunmore had been transferred from the government 
of New York to that of Virginia and has been sus- 
pected of having brought on this conflict by his 
agent, Doctor John Connolly, in order to prevent the 
Virginians from taking up arms against the British 
ministry in the impending struggle for liberty. Two 
columns were to invade the Indian country. Lord 
Dunmore placed himself at the head of one, assembled 
at Fort Pitt, and dropping down the Ohio intended 
to meet the other, under General Andrew Lewis, 
coming from Lewisburg, in Greenbriar county, Vir- 
ginia, at the mouth of the Great Kanawha. Lord 
Dunmore, however, changed his plans, intending to 
land at the Big Hockhocking. In the meantime 
General Lewis fought the battle of Point Pleasant 
October 10, 1774, compelling the Indians to retreat, 
and then, contrary to Lord Dunmore's order, to make 
a halt at Salt Licks,f pressed on to Chillicothe, where 
he joined his superior officer. Here the Governor 
made a treaty with the Ohio Indians, who promised 
not to hunt south of the Ohio and not to molest 
voyagers on the river. 

*N. Y. Col. Doc, VIII, 460. 
f Now Jackson, Ohio. 



184 The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days. 

Settlements had been made before this time in the 
Muskingum valley. The Moravian community at 
Friedenshuetten, Pennsylvania, had gathered about 
them during the seven years of their labors there a 
number of Indian converts, but had also suffered 
much from persecution of their English neighbors. 
Cordially invited by the Delawares in 1772, to come 
to their country near the Muskingum, the Moravian 
settlers and their Indian friends had removed, and in 
their new homes among savages it seemed to them 
that their trials were ended.* 

* Winsor, Narr. and Crit. Hist., VI, 734. 



CHAPTER X. 

South of the Ohio River. 

Reverend Hugh Jones, Chaplain to the Virginia 
Assembly and Minister at Jamestown, wrote in 1750: 
" If New England be called a receptacle of Dissent- 
ers and an Amsterdam of religion, Pennsylvania the 
nursery of Quakers, Maryland the retirement of 
Roman Catholics, North Carolina the refuge of Run- 
aways, etc." Yet this same North Carolina may be 
called an offshoot of Virginia, which our Reverend 
friend designates as the " happy retreat of true 
Britons and true Churchmen." 

The truth is that North Carolina was originally 
settled by several shiploads of respectable English 
people coming from Barbadoes, who were followed 
by the French, Swiss and German Protestant fugi- 
tives from despotic Roman Catholic countries, and in 
1745 by Scotch Jacobites, who found themselves en- 
dangered in their homes after the failure of their 
attempt to replace a Stuart on the throne of Eng- 
land. Runaways there were too, but they came from 
the " happy retreat " to which they had been trans- 
ported out of the slums and prisons of England. 
The result was necessarily and unavoidably, that we 
24 



1 86 The Ohio Valley 

encounter "a marked absence of individuality in the 
history of North Carolina, and that she was sadly 
deficient in men of great abilities and commanding 
character, such as made Virginia illustrious."* 

Another result was the absence of men belonging 
to the learned professions, for everybody was either 
planter or storekeeper, and in the western part of 
the Colony a hunter. When in the course of years 
these hunters had depleted the east side of the moun- 
tains of the animals, whose products were required 
for the purchase of the necessaries of life, they de- 
scended on the west side into the Ohio Valley. A 
map, spoken of in a previous chapter, tells us that 
one Walker had an establishment on the Cumberland 
river as early as 1750, and perhaps earlier. This 
Walker had been probably Doctor Walker, who 
about this time had crossed from Powell's Valley, in 
Virginia, over to Cumberland. Another mapf in- 
forms us that in 1 755, this, most likely the first white, 
settlement in the southern intervales of the Ohio, 
had been destroyed. " A place called Kentucky," 
had become known about that time, for in May, 1753, 
Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, wrote to Gov- 
ernor Clinton, of New York, of robberies committed 
upon English traders at that place by French In- 
dians. % 

A nameless French author§ speaks of James Mc- 

* H. C. Lodge, Short History of the English Colonies in America. 

f See Chapter II. 

JN. Y. Council Minutes, MSS., XXXIII, 71. 

§ Voyage au Kentoukey, etc., par M. . . . , Paris, 1821. 



In Colonial Days. 187 

Bride, who crossed the Ohio river with a party of 
friends in 1754, and near its mouth cut his name and 
the date of his arrival into an old lime-tree, still stand- 
ing when the writer came to the same place. His 
reports of the beautiful country seen were not be- 
lieved. Marshall treats this account of McBride as 
a tradition. 

John Findlay or Finley, whose name is perpetuated 
in the counties of Hancock, Ohio, and of Alleghany, 
Pennsylvania, was one of a party of hunters who, 
driven to look for new hunting grounds, found them- 
selves upon the waters of the Kentucky river in 1 767. 
" Of Finley and his comrades and of the course and 
extent of their journey little is known. That they 
were of the pure blood and endowed with the gen- 
uine qualities of the pioneers, is manifestly unde- 
niable. That they passed over the Cumberland and 
through the intermediate country to the Kentucky 
river and penetrated the beautiful valley of the Elk- 
horn, there are no sufficient reasons to doubt. It is 
enough, however, to embalm their memory in our 
hearts and to connect their names with the imperish- 
able memorials of our early history, that they were 
the first adventurers that plunged into the dark and 
enchanted wilderness of Kentucky, — that of all their 
cotemporaries they saw her first, — and saw her in the 
pride of her virgin beauty — at the dawn of summer 
— in the fullness of her vegetation — her soil instinct 
with fertility, covered with the most luxuriant ver- 
dure — the air perfumed with the fragrance of flowers 



1 88 The Ohio Valley 

and her tall forests looming in all their primeval 
magnificence. How long Finley lived or where he 
died, the silence of history does not enable us to 
know. That his remains are now mingled with the 
soil that he discovered, there is some reason to hope, 
for he conducted Boone to Kentucky in 1769 — and 
there the curtain drops on him forever."* 

The country beyond the Cumberland mountains 
"appeared in 1767 to the dusky view of the gener- 
ality of the people of Virginia almost as obscure 
and doubtful as America itself to the people of Eu- 
rope before the voyage of Columbus. A country 
there was ; of this none could doubt, who thought at 
all ; but whether land or water, mountain or plain, 
fertility or barrenness preponderated ; whether inhab- 
ited by men or beasts, or both, or neither, they knew 
not. If inhabited by men, they were supposed to be 
Indians; for such had always infested the frontiers. 
And this had been a powerful reason for not exploring 
the region west of the great mountain, which con- 
cealed Kentucky from their sight. "+ 

If Judge Marshall is right in thus describing the 
reasons for not exploring a region, we must, in com- 
paring this pusillanimity of the colonial English with 
the intrepidity shown by colonial Frenchmen, cer- 
tainly wonder, that the former could drive the latter 
from this Continent. 

Daniel Boone's family had moved from Berks 

* Address of Governor Morehead at Boonesborough, Ky., May 25, 1840. 
f H. Marshall, History of Kentucky, I, 7. 



In Colonial Days. 189 

county, Pennsylvania, to North Carolina, where they 
settled on the Yadkin river in 1753, and soon after 
their arrival there Daniel married, having provided a 
hut for his young wife in a solitary part of the Yadkin 
valley, where no neighbor could crowd him. But 
his solitude was soon disturbed by other settlers and 
he decided to move, if possible, to a wild and unex- 
plored region beyond the neighboring mountains, of 
which he heard strange stories.* 

The white settlers around his cabin in the Yadkin 
valley began to increase and they added thereby to 
Boone's desire to move. Perhaps other things helped 
this determination to leave the frontier and plunge 
into the wilderness. Taxes, fees and costs were the 
necessary following of increased population and Boone 
was not inclined to fill the pockets of the officials, 
who were benefited by them. At this juncture Boone 
fell in with Finley, returned from his excursion to the 
west, and his heart and imagination were soon ablaze 

* A modern writer relates of an expedition, which Daniel Boone appears 
to have undertaken about this time and says, that there is still standing on 
the bank of Boone's creek — a branch of the Watauga river — not far from 
Jonesboro, East Tennessee, a large beech tree, with the following inscription : 

D. Boon 
CillED A. BAR » On 

Tree 
in ThE 

yEAR 

1760. 
(Edmund Kirke, Rearguard of the Revolution following Ramsey, Annals 
of Tennessee.) The distance from Boone's settlement in the Yadkin valley 
to the above Boone's creek could not have been more than perhaps 200 
miles. We may, therefore, consider that the occasion, on which Boone cut the 
inscription into the tree, was not an exploring, but only a somewhat ex- 
tended hunting excursion, such as the exigencies of their life often required 
the professional huntsmen to take. 



190 The Ohio Valley 

with the wild and romantic stories of the traveler. 
Boone had seen a little of this enchanted region, 
when in 1 764 he had been sent on a tour of inspec- 
tion to a branch of the Cumberland river by a com- 
pany of land speculators. Now Finley and Boone 
set to work to form a new expeditionary party, but 
they did not succeed in recruiting the desired number 
until early in 1769. Boone tells the story of this 
expedition as follows :* " It was on the first of May, 
1769, that I resigned my domestic happiness for a 
time and left my family and peaceful habitation on 
the Yadkin river, in North Carolina, to wander 
through the wilderness of America, in quest of the 
country of Kentucky, in company with John Finley, 
John Stewart, Joseph Holden, James Monay and 
William Cool. We proceeded successfully and after 
a long and fatiguing journey through a mountainous 
wilderness, in a westward direction, on the seventh 
day of June following, we found ourselves on Red 
river, f where John Finley had formerly been trading 

* W. H. Bogart, in his " Daniel Boone," says of this narrative by John 
Filson: John Filson, who claimed to have been an early witness of the set- 
tlement of Kentucky, wrote, ostensibly from Boone's dictation, a life of the 
great Pioneer, but its style of language is so ornate and ambitious, as greatly 
to lessen its value. Evidently Filson received the leading facts from Boone 
and disdaining the simple words of the Pioneer, preferred the use of a dic- 
tion far beyond good taste or probability. Junlay, the editor of the book, 
calls it, curiously, "a narrative, written in a style of the utmost simplicity, 
by ... . one of the hunters, who first penetrated into the bosom of that 
delectable region." 

\ Either the tributary of the Cumberland river flowing through Robertson 
and Montgomery counties, Tennessee, or a small tributary of the Kentucky 
river, rising in Morgan county and flowing between Clark and Estill counties, 
Kentucky. Probably the latter. 



In Colonial Days. 191 

with the Indians and from the top of an eminence 
saw with pleasure the beautiful level of Kentucky. . .* 
At this place we encamped and made a shelter to 
defend us from the inclement season and began to 
hunt and reconnoiter the country. We found every- 
where abundance of wild beasts of all sorts, through 
this vast forest. The buffalo were more frequent 
than I have seen cattle in the settlements. . . .* In 
this forest .... we practiced hunting with great suc- 
cess until the 22d day of December following. This 
day John Stewart and I had a pleasant ramble ; but 
fortune changed the scene in the close of it. We 
had passed through a great forest, on which stood 
myriads of trees, some gay with blossoms, others rich 
with fruits. . . .+ In the decline of the day, near 
Kentucky river, as we ascended the brow of a small 
hill, a number of Indians rushed out of a thick cane- 
brake and made us prisoners." 

After having been plundered and carried about as 
captives for a while, the two hunters managed to 
escape, but they found their camp on the Red river 
deserted and plundered. " About this time," con- 
tinues Boone, "my brother, Squire Boone, with an- 
other adventurer, who came to explore the country 
shortly after us, was wandering thro' the forest, deter- 
mined to find me if possible and accidentally found 
our camp Soon after this my companion in 

* General reflections in ornate language are omitted, 
t Neither Boone nor his biographer seem to have thought of the contra- 
diction—of blossoms and fruits on the trees in December. 



192 The Ohio Valley 

captivity, John Stewart, was killed by the Savages 
and the man that came with my brother returned 
home by himself. We were then in a dangerous, 
helpless situation, exposed daily to perils and death 
amongst the savages and wild beasts — not a white 
man in the country but ourselves. . . . We continued 
not in a state of indolence, but hunted every day and 
prepared a little cottage to defend us from the winter 
storms. We remained there undisturbed through 
the winter. On the first day of May, 1770, my 
brother returned home to the settlement by himself, 
for a new recruit of horses and ammunition, leaving 
me by myself without bread, salt or sugar, without 
company of my fellow creatures or even a horse or 
dog." 

Boone and his companions were, to a certain extent, 
trespassers. The territory, to which their expedition 
had extended, had originally belonged to the Chero- 
kees, who had been subjugated by the Six Nations 
of New York. But the claim of the Cherokees to 
this region had never been substantiated and hence 
the title of the Six Nations to it, which they had 
ceded to the British Crown by the treaty of Fort 
Stanwix* in 1768, was a very vague one. However, 
Boone and his party only anticipated for a short time, 
what they perhaps knew must come in the course of 
events. A treaty made at Lochaber, in South Caro- 
lina, October 5, 1770, extinguished the Indian claim 
completely. 

* Now Rome, New York. 



In Colonial Days. 193 

We can only briefly follow Boone's adventures ; 
how he and his brother, after thoroughly exploring 
the country, determined to settle in it ; how, in Sep- 
tember, 1773, they started with their families from 
their homes in North Carolina ; how, after joining 
company with a party of forty odd people, near 
Powell's valley, bent on like removal, he had the 
misfortune to lose his eldest son in an Indian fight, 
and how, after this sad affair, in which five other men 
were killed, the disheartened majority of the party, 
after a council on Walden's mountain, compelled a 
return to the Clinch river in Virginia, where they 
made a welcome addition to an older settlement. 
The "place, called Kentucky" had, in the mean- 
time, become more extensively known. In 1771, a 
hunting company, which acquired fame under the 
name of the "Long Hunters," and consisted of 
Casper Mauser, James Knox, John Montgomery, 
Isaac Bledsoe and others, had gone on such a long 
and extensive hunt that we might be inclined to think 
they had been as far as the Mississippi and back. 
Their reports led the Assembly of Virginia to reward 
her soldiers, who had helped to drive the French 
from the Ohio Valley, with allotments of lands on 
the Kentucky river. Governor Dunmore, of Vir- 
ginia, knowing that Daniel Boone had demonstrated 
by his own experiences, that this was a country where 
people could live, sent surveyors into the regions to 
give some form and shape to the donations made in 
so liberal a manner by the Assembly. Captain 
25 



194 The Ohio Valley 

Thomas Bullitt, an officer who had seen and done 
good service in the expedition against Fort du 
Ouesne, was placed in charge of a party of survey- 
ors, Taylor, Harrod and McAfee, and penetrated 
through the wilderness, as far as the Falls of the 
Ohio. Here they made the fortified head-quarters 
for their operations and thus laid, unwittingly, the 
foundation for the present city of Louisville, Ken- 
tucky. Sir W. Johnson complained in September, 
1773, that Bullitt and a large number of people had 
gone beyond the limits of the new purchase and that 
Shawanoes were excited over it and treating with 
the Spaniards. Other surveyors followed. James 
Douglas, intending to join Captain Bullitt, explored 
the country about Big bone Lick creek. He saw 
" the lick and the large bones, of which fame had 
said so much, the learned risked so many conjectures, 
and everybody knew so little."* He revisited Ken- 
tucky the next year, exploring the country on Elk- 
horn, Hickman and Jessamine creeks, and became 
so enamored of the country, that he intended to settle 
there. But death, interfering in so many human 
plans, said " No." 

Handcock Taylor, perhaps one of the original 
party, was killed by Indians in the execution of his 
duties, but his field notes were secured by his assist- 
ant, Hamptonstall, and later legalized by act of 
Legislature. In May, 1774, Captain James Harrod, 
at the head of a party of forty-one men, in descend- 

* Marshall, History of Kentucky. 



In Colonial Days. 195 

ing the Monongahela and the Ohio, reached the site 
of the present Harrodsburgh, or as first called, Har- 
rodstown or Old Town, which he laid out in lots of 
munificent size. They were the first white men who 
raised a crop of corn on Kentucky soil. John Floyd, 
" a deputy surveyor of Fincastle county,"* was en- 
gaged in this business also in 1774, and could in later 
years play an important role, as civil and as military 
officer, in the new territory. He made his station on 
the Bear Grass creek, some ten miles from the falls 
of the Ohio, and settled there. Doctor Wood's inten- 
tion in 1773 to descend the Ohio in quest of a new 
country and rich land, came to the knowledge of 
Simon Kenton, a young man of Fauquier county. 
For justifiable reasons he changed his name to Butler 
and joined Doctor Wood, with whom he went as far 
as Cabin creek, "making various improvements on 
the bottoms."f Two years later Butler went down 
the Ohio again as far as the present site of Augusta, 
Bracken county, Kentucky, and striking inland made 
a settlement near the present town of Washington, 
Mason county. 

Another pioneer of these days was William Whit- 
ley, also a Virginian. Hearing the reports of the 
marvelous country, Kentucky, he decided to have a 
look at it with a view of settling there. He set out 
with his brother-in-law, George Clark, and seven 
others, and found what he and his companions desired 
in the south-eastern section of Kentucky. 

* Marshall, History of Kentucky; Botetourt county is probably meant. 
fib. 



196 The Ohio Valley 

Lord Dunmore, Governor of New York, later of 
Virginia, had, in 1 770, considered the scheme of estab- 
lishing a Colony on the Ohio as impracticable. All 
the men, who were supposed to have any knowledge 
of such affairs and whom he consulted, concurred in 
a condemnation of such a project, giving as their 
reasons for doing so the great distances from the set- 
tled parts, an impossibility to establish commercial 
communications. " Such Colony must therefore be 
their own Manufacturers," he continues,* "and the 
great expense of maintaining Troops there for their 
protection be a dead weight on Govern 1 without the 
hopes of reaping any advantage hereafter. .... Add 
to this the great probability, I may venture to say 
with certainty, that the attempting a settlement on the 
Ohio will draw on an Indian war ; it being well known 
how ill affected the Ohio Indians have always been 
to our interest and their jealousy of such a settlement, 
so near them, must be easily foreseen." 

Lord Dunmore was not wrong in his anticipations. 
In the beginning of the following year, 1771, Sir 
William Johnson had to report that the Northern and 
Southern Indians were negotiating for a closer union 
between them to prevent further encroachments by 
the white intruders. " If a very small part of these 
people have been capable of reducing us to such 
straits as we were in a few years since, what may we 
not expect from such a formidable alliance as we are 
threatened with, when at the same time it is well 

* Marshall, History of Kentucky, 253. 



In Colonial Days. 197 

known, that we are not at this time more capable of 
Defence, if so much, as at the former period."* 

Neither Sir William Johnson nor Lord Dunmore's 
warnings against pushing settlements to the west- 
ward were heeded by the home authorities in Eng- 
land. A grant of land was made in 1772 to Thomas 
Walpole, Benjamin Franklin, John Sargent and 
Samuel Wharton, the representatives of a land com- 
pany. This company offered to pay ,£10,460, the 
sum paid to the Six Nations for the land purchased 
from them at the Fort Stanwix treaty, and desired to 
receive therefor the title of a tract " beginning on 
the South Side of the River Ohio opposite to the 
mouth of Sioto, thence southerly through the pass 
in the Ouasioto Mountains, to the South side of the 
said mountains, thence along the side of the said 
Mountains North Easterly to the Fork of the Great 
Kenhawa, made by the junction of Green Briar and 
new River, thence along the said Green Briar on 
the Easterly side of the same unto the Head or termi- 
nation of the North Easterly branch thereof, thence 
Easterly to the Allegheny mountains, thence along 
the said Allegheny mountains to Lord Fairfax's 
Line, thence along the same to the Spring head of 
the North Branch of the River Powtomack, thence 
along the Western Boundary Line of the Province 
of Maryland to the Southern Boundary Line of the 
Province of Pennsylvania to the End thereof, thence 
along the Western Boundary Line of the said prov- 

* Marshall, History of Kentucky, 262. 



198 The Ohio Valley 

ince of Pennsylvania until the same shall strike the 
River Ohio, Thence down the said River Ohio to the 
place of beginning."* A glance at the map will 
show that this tract covered most of the present 
State of West Virginia and a small part of Eastern 
Kentucky. The lands granted had already partly 
been settled and were not " beyond the reach of ad- 
vantageous intercourse." The above warning was 
written while Lord Dunmore was still Governor of 
New York. As Governor of Virginia he visited the 
back settlements and remained some time at Pitts- 
burgh, engaged in a territorial dispute between Vir- 
ginia and Pennsylvania. He is accused of having 
excited the Indian war, which devastated the western 
settlements in 1774, with a view of distracting 
the councils of the patriots of those days. This 
conflict ended by the battle of Point Pleasant, above 
the mouth of the Great Kanhawa, on the 10th of 
October, 1774. 

A letter from Sir William Johnson to Governor 
Tryon, of New York, speaking of the Indian situa- 
tion, says in 1774 :f "The disorderly behaviour of 
the Frontier Inhabitants will confirm the Indians in 
their suspicions against us. . . . For more than ten 
years past the most dissolute fellows united with 
debtors and persons of a wandering disposition have 
been removing from Pennsylvania, Virginia, etc., into 
the Indian Country, towards and on the Ohio and a 

*N. Y. Coll. MSS., XCVIII, 127. 
•j-N. Y. Col. Hist., VIII, 460. 



In Colonial Days. 199 

considerable number of settlements were made as 
early as 1 765.* The Cession to the Crown at the 
Treaty of 1 768 was secured by the plainest and best 
natural boundaries and the Indians freely agreed to 
make it the more ample that our people should have 
no pretext of narrow limits and the remainder might 
be rendered the more secure to themselves and their 
posterity ; neither did they expect that we should 
push settlements immediately over the whole of their 
cession and His Majesty with great wisdom and dis- 
cretion was pleased to direct that none should be now 
made below the Great Kanhawa River, with which I 
acquainted the Indians agreeable to my orders, but 
number of settlements had been made there previous 
to the cession, attempts made since to form others 
on the Mississippi and great numbers in defiance of 
the cession or the orders of Government in conse- 
quence thereof have since removed not only below 
the Kanhawa, but even far beyond the limits of the 
Cession . . . . ; the body of these people are under no 
restraint, they perceive that they are in places of secu- 
rity and pay as little regard to Government, as they 
do to title for their possessions, whilst at the same 
time not only individuals but bodies of men are inter- 
ested in the growth of these settlements, however in- 
jurious to the old colonies and dangerous to all ; but 
'till better order is restored elsewhere, little can be 
expected in that quarter & in the interim these set- 
tlements increase and what is much worse the disor- 

* North of the Ohio. 



200 The Ohio Valley 

ders, of which the Indians principally complain grow- 
to an enormity, that threatens us with fresh wars." 

The warlike attitude of the Indians threatened 
danger not only to the settlers within the territory, 
ceded by them, but also to the surveying parties, sent 
out by the Governor far beyond the limits thereof. 
They had to be protected or at least must be warned 
of the danger threatening them and here we must 
retrace our steps to the settlement on Clinch river, 
where Daniel Boone and his party had retreated after 
the failure of their expedition in i jjt,. For, although 
it is not intended here to write a biography of Boone, 
however worthy a subject he is of one, we must recur 
to him again, as the history of his wanderings is more 
or less also the Colonial history of Kentucky, of the 
" Dark and Bloody Ground." 

His former exploits as an intrepid pioneer had 
gradually become known to Governor and Council of 
Virginia, and when the question of warning their sub- 
ordinates, the surveyors way out west, came up before 
them, they decided to employ Boone as the most 
trustworthy messenger. He undertook the service 
expected from him and set out on his journey 
with only one companion, Michael Stoner. Stoner 
was, like Boone, a pioneer and had already traversed 
part of the new country, having hunted on the Cum- 
berland river. The two intrepid messengers reached 
the surveying camp at the falls of the Ohio and suc- 
ceeded in piloting the threatened party safely back to 
less dangerous regions. Very little is known of this 



In Colonial Days. 201 

remarkable journey of 800 miles in sixty-two days. 
Boone speaks modestly of it and affirms that " many 
difficulties" were encountered. Tradition has, of 
course, so much more to tell about it. A party, be- 
longing to the Harrod company was attacked by 
Indians, and tells the story, that one of the men in his 
fright, having succeeded to make his escape in a 
canoe, paddled down the Ohio, down the Mississippi 
and returned to his home in Pennsylvania or Vir- 
ginia by way of the Gulf and Atlantic ocean. 

One of the results of this journey may be learned 
from the following certificate, issued to Stoner : 
"Michael Stoner this day appeared and claimed a 
right to a settlement and preemption to a tract of 
land lying on Stoner's Fork* a branch of the South 
Fork of Licking, about 1 2 miles above Licking sta- 
tion^ by making corn in the country in the year 
1775 and improving the said land in the year 1776 ; 
satisfactory proof being made to the Court, they are 
of opinion, that the said Stoner had a right to a set- 
tlement of 400 acres of land, including the above 
mentioned improvements and a preemption of 1000 
acres adjoining the same and that a certificate issue 
accordingly." 

Boone's successful performance earned him the 
thanks of Lord Dunmore in the shape of a military 
commission, by virtue of which he was " ordered to 
take command of three garrisons " on the frontier. 

* Now Stoner's creek, Bourbon county, Kentucky, 
f In Morgan county, Kentucky. 
26 



202 The Ohio Valley 

In this capacity he took part in the battle at Point 
Pleasant on the ioth of October, 1774, which secured 
peace for the settlers on ceded territory. But this 
Indian war had not taught any more respect for 
treaties, made with the Indians, nor shown to would- 
be settlers on Indian lands, how dangerous such at- 
tempts would be. 

Governor Morehead tells of the next attempt:* 
" In the autumn of the year 1774 there originated in 
North Carolina one of the most extraordinary 
schemes of ambition and speculation, which was ex- 
hibited in an age pregnant with such events. Eight 
private gentlemen — Richard Henderson, William 
Johnston, Nathaniel Hart, JohnTuttrel, David Hart, 
John Williams, James Hogg and Leonard Henley 
Bullock — contrived the project of purchasing a large 
tract of country in the West from the Cherokee In- 
dians and provisionary arrangements were made, with 
a view to the accomplishment of their object, for a 
treaty to be held with them in the ensuing year. This 
was the celebrated Transylvania Company, which 
formed so singular a connection with our early annals. 
In March 1775 Col. Henderson, on behalf of his asso- 
ciates, met the chiefs of the Cherokees, attended by 
1200 warriors, at a fort on the Watauga, the south- 
eastern branch of the Holston River. A council 
was held, the terms were discussed, the purchase was 
consummated — including the whole tract of country 
between the Cumberland and Kentucky Rivers." 

* First settlement of Kentucky, 1740, quoted above. 



In Colonial Days. 203 

But the purchase, thus made, was not a legal one. 
Both the Colonies, Virginia and North Carolina, 
claiming by their charters jurisdiction as far as the 
Mississippi and therefore including this tract, had at 
different times enacted laws which, though not as 
stringent as the New York laws on that subject, made 
a direct conveyance of land from the Indian to the 
white man void.* This principle was re-affirmed in 
the Constitutions, which the two Colonies adopted on 
entering the Union of the States : " No purchase of 
land shall be made of the Indian natives but on be- 
half of the public by authority of the General As- 
sembly." 

Doctor O. F. D. Smyth, traveling through Vir- 
ginia as agent for Lord Dunmore, throws the light 
of cotemporaneous opinion on this gigantic land-job- 
bery of Henderson : " Under pretence of viewing 
some back lands, he [Henderson] privately went out 
to the Cherokee nation of Indians and for an insig- 
nificant consideration (only ten wagons loaded with 
cheap goods, some fire arms and spirituous liquors), 
made a purchase from the chiefs of the nation of a 
vast tract of territory, equal in extent to a kingdom 
and in the excellence of climate and soil, extent of 
its rivers and beautiful elegance of situations inferior 
to none in the universe. A domain of no less than 
100 miles square, situated on the back or interior 

* William W. Hening, Statutes of Virginia, I, 391, 396, 468; II, 139; 
Tohns Hopkins University Studies, III, 123, and Iredell Laws of North Caro- 
lina, I, 32, Chap. LIX. 



204 The Ohio Valley 

part of Virginia and of North and South Carolina ; 
comprehending the rivers Kentucky, Cherokee [Cum- 
berland] and Ohio, besides a variety of inferior rivu- 
lets. . . . This transaction he kept a profound secret, 
until such time as he obtained the final ratification of 
the whole nation in form. Then he immediately in- 
vited settlers from all the Provinces, offering them 
lands on the most advantageous terms and proposing 
to them, likewise, to form a government and a legis- 
lature of their own, such as might be most convenient 

to their particular circumstances of settlement 

Mr. Henderson by this means established a new 
colony, numerous and respectable, of which he him- 
self was virtually proprietor as well as Governor, 
and indeed Legislature also. ... In vain did the 
different Governors fulminate their proclamations of 
outlawry against him and his people ; in vain did 
they offer rewards for apprehending him and forbid 
every person from joining or repairing to his settle- 
ment ; under the sanction and authority of a general 
law that renders the formal assent of the Governors 
and Assemblies of the different Provinces absolutely 
necessary to vindicate the purchase of any lands 
from the Indian nations. For this instance being 
the act of the Indians themselves, they defended him 
and his colony, being in fact as a bulwark and barrier 
between Virginia as well as North and South Caro- 
lina, and him ; his territory lying to the westward of 
their nation."* Henderson's scheme failed and the 

* O. F. D. Smyth, Travels in Virginia, 1773. 



In Colonial Days. 205 

Commonwealth of "Transylvania" had only a short 
existence. He had not thought it necessary to in- 
quire, whether the Cherokees, from whom he bought 
this territory, had a right and title to it. At the time 
when they made over to Henderson the great domain 
of Transylvania they lived in towns, either on the 
head waters of the Savannah river, the Keowee and 
Tugelo, or on the Tennessee, above the mouth of 
the Holston. They occupied as hunting grounds the 
counties of Franklin and Elbert in Georgia, the 
western counties of South Carolina, North Carolina 
and of Virginia ; they would occasionally go down 
the Tennessee, but very rarely on the Cumberland, 
and when they visited this river they considered 
themselves as hunting on grounds not their own. On 
the other hand the Chickasaws, as Governor Blount 
of the South-West Territory* says, lived for a long 
time on the north side of the Tennessee, at least fifty 
miles lower down the river, than the lowest Cherokee 
town, and the greatest contiguity to hunting grounds, 
as well as the prior use of them, is the best claim 
Indians can establish to them. At a treaty between 
the Cherokees and Governor Blount, representing 
the United States, made on Long Island of Holston 
river, a Cherokee chief said to Henderson: "You, 
Carolina Dick, have deceived your people ; you told 
them, we sold you the Cumberland lands ; we only 
sold you our claim ; they belong to our brothers, the 
Chickasaws, as far as the head waters of Duck and 

* American State Papers, Indian Affairs, I, 433. 



2o6 The Ohio Valley 

Elk Rivers." Daniel Boone was employed by Hen- 
derson in carrying out the plans for organizing this 
new Colony. He was assigned to the command of 
a company sent "to mark out a road in the best 
passage from the settlement, through the wilderness 
to Kentucky." Boone pushed this work rapidly, so 
that on the ist of April, 1775 he had reached the 
place where the first fort in the present State of Ken- 
tucky was erected, and could begin to lay the founda- 
tion of Boonesborough.* Henderson joined Boone 
in the new village and opened a land office, disposing 
of over half a million of acres in a short time, for 
which only questionable titles could be given in the 
name of "The Proprietors of the Colony of Tran- 
sylvania in America." Other settlements sprung up 
in the new Colony — Harrodsburgh, Boiling Spring 
and St. Asaph's — which formed a legislature to 
meet at Boonesborough in 1775. 

The battles of Lexington and Concord were 
fought ; and the shot which was soon to be " heard 
around the world" echoed in the woods of Kentucky. 
The days of Colonial Kentucky were numbered as 
the few inhabitants joined their kinsmen along the 
seaboard in throwing off the dominion of England, 
and Henderson was obliged to give up his scheme of 
establishing a separate and independent government 
similar to the other British Colonies. He addressed 
a memorial to the Continental Congress in 1775, 

* Madison county, Kentucky. 



In Colonial Days. 20 J 

asking that Transylvania might be added to the 
United Colonies, rising against English tyranny. 

In going south from Kentucky we come to the 
upper intervales of the Ohio Valley, to Tennessee. 
As Rafinesque* claims that Kentucky was discov- 
ered by Colonel Wood in 1654, so Ramseyf thinks 
it possible, that Fernando de Soto, on the march 
which he made in 1539 from Florida to the Missis- 
sippi, may have passed through Tennessee. But we 
must leave such speculations to special investigators 
and will here confine ourselves to documentary evi- 
dences, although maps of the sixteenth century indicate 
some vague knowledge of the country between the 
Mississippi and the Atlantic ocean. J A map of 
de l'Isle§ shows de Soto to have come to the head 
waters of the Tennessee river. 

The first Europeans, whom we positively know to 
have been in the Tennessee country, came by way of 
New Orleans up the Mississippi. M. de Crozat 

* Marshall, History of Kentucky. 

f Annals of Tennessee, 26. 

\ 1. Americae pars borealis, Florida, Baccalaos, Canada, Corterealisa Cor- 
nelio de Judaeis in lucem edita, 1593, has two rivers, both starting under the 
40th degree N. L., one from the west, the other from the east, which after 
running under the same degree join and immediately separate, to flow par- 
allel to each other into the gulf. 2. In the Wytfliet Map of 1597, already 
mentioned, very similar to No. I. 3. The De Bry Map of 1596, has the 
Mississippi and a tributary running from the east fairly correct. 4. Quadus, 
in his " Geographisches Handbook " (Geographical Handbook), 1600, fol- 
lows Judaeus. 

§ Amsterdam edition of Garcilasso de la Vega's Histoire des Incas et de 
la conquete de la Floride, 1707. Other maps of the route are given by Rye 
(in Hakluyt), McCulloch (Antiquarian Researches in America, Baltimore, 
1829), and by J. C. Breevort (in Smith's Narratives of Hernando de Soto). 



208 The Ohio Valley 

had obtained a grant of the exclusive trade in the 
territory of Louisiana from the French King* and 
established in 1714 a trading store, under charge of 
M. Charleville, " upon a mound near the present site 
of Nashville, on the west side of the Cumberland 
river, near French Lick creek, and about seventy yards 
from each stream. "f 

Hunters and traders of both the French and the 
English nationalities must have resorted to the 
country east of the Mississippi. In 1718 the French 
could describe the road taken by the Indians of 
Michigan and Lake Huron, "when going to war with 
the Flatheads and other nations toward Carolina, 
such as the Cheraquis, residing on the river Casqui- 
nampoj and the Cha6anons."§ They had also a fort 
on Tennessee soil, Fort Assomption, though not 
in the Ohio Valley. Fort Assomption on Chickasaw 
bluff, where Memphis now stands, formed a link in 
the chain of footholds, more or less fortified, which 
the French had established for securing the communi- 
cation between Canada and New Orleans. But from 
an English source we have, for a wonder, the most 
complete description of the country given in these 
days : 

. . . . " The great nation of the Chicazaws [Chicka- 
saws] whose country extends above forty leagues to 
the river of the Cheraquees, which we shall describe 

*N. Y. Col. Hist., IX, 671. 

\ Ramsey, Annals, 45. 

% Old name of the Tennessee river, de Lisle's map. 

§ N. Y. Col. Hist., IX, 886. 



In Colonial Days. 209 

when we come to discourse of the great river Hohio. 
.... Thirty leagues higher on the East side is the 
opening of a river that proceeds out of a lake twenty 
miles long, which is about ten miles from the Mescha- 
cebe. Into this lake empty themselves four large 
rivers. The most northerly, which comes from the 
North East is called Ouabachicou or Ouabache, upon 
which dwelt the nations Chachakingua, Pepepicokia, 
Peanguichia. The next South of this is the vast 
river Hohio, which comes from the back of New 
York, Maryland and Virginia, and is navigable for 
600 miles. Hohio in the Indian language signifies 
the fair river ; and certainly it runs from its heads 
through the most beautiful fertile countries in the 
universe and is formed by the confluence of ten or 
twelve rivers and innumerable rivulets. A town set- 
tled upon this lake or the entrance of the river Hohio 
thereinto, would have communication with a most 
lovely fruitful country 600 miles square. Formerly, 
divers nations dwelt on this river, as the Chawanoes, 
a mighty and very populous people, who had above 
fifty towns and many other nations, who were totally 
destroyed or driven out of their country by the 
Irocois, this river being their usual road, when they 
make war upon the nations who lie to the South or 
to the West. 

" South of the Hohio is another river, which about 
thirty leagues above the lake is divided into two 
branches ; the northerly is called Ouespere, the south- 
erly the Black River ; there are very few people upon 
27 



210 The Ohio Valley 

either, they having been destroyed or driven away by 
the aforementioned Irocois. The heads of this river 
proceed from the West side of the vast ridge of 
mountains which run on the back of Carolina, Vir- 
ginia and Maryland ; on whose opposite or East side 
are the sources of the great river Potomack. . . . The 
mountains afford a short passage or communication 
between those two rivers, which the Indians are well 
acquainted with. . . . 

" The most southerly of the above said four rivers, 
which enter into the lake, is a river some call Kasqui, 
so named from a nation inhabiting a little above its 
mouth ; others call it the Cusates or the river of the 
Cheraquees, a mighty nation, among whom it has its 
chief fountains ; it comes from the South-East and 
its heads are among the mountains, which separate 
this country from Carolina, and is the great road 
of the traders from thence to the Meschacebe and 
intermediate places."* 

To counteract the French influences among the 
Indians, Sir Alexander Cumming started in 1730, to 
hold a conference with all the chiefs of the Cherokee 
townsf at Nequassee, on the Hiawassee river,J at 
which Moytoy of Telliquo§ was appointed head chief 
of the Cherokee Indians. Moytoy had the crown 
brought from the village of Tenassee on the Little 
Tennessee river and presented it to the English Com- 

* Daniel Coxe, Description of Carolina, 1722. 

f See Appendix E. 

X A small tributary of the Tennessee. 

§ Probably the modern Tellico. 



In Colonial Days. 2 1 1 

missioner, Sir Alexander dimming, in token of his 
submission. Upon his advice some chiefs of the tribe 
were sent to England and did homage there to King 
George.* English state-craft appears not to have been 
able to secure by treaty permanent immunity from 
Indian invasions. A memorial from the Governor, the 
President of the Council and the Speaker of the As- 
sembly of South Carolina sent to King George in 
1734, says : " The Cherokee nation has lately become 
very insolent to our traders, and we beg leave to in- 
form Your Majesty that the building and mounting 
some forts among them may keep them steady in 
their fidelity to us and that the means of the province 
are inadequate to its defence."'! But it took the 
English government twenty-two years to arrive at a 
decision in this matter, when the Earl of Loudon, 
commanding the Royal troops in America, and Gov- 
ernor Dinwiddie of Virginia, sent Andrew Lewis to 
build a fort on Tennessee river near the head of navi- 
gation and about thirty miles from the present city 
of Knoxville. The erection of this fort, Fort Lou- 
don, although at all times a place very difficult and 
in case of an Indian war, impossible to reach with 
supplies, had the hearty approval of the Cherokees, 
who, says Haywood,}; " invited artizans into Fort 
Loudon by donations of land, which they caused to 
be signed by their own chief and, in one instance, by 

§ Hewitt, History of South Carolina, II, 5. 

t lb., II, 37. 

t Haywood, Civil History of Tennessee, p. 28. 



2 1 2 The Ohio Valley 

Gov. Dobbs of North Carolina." Colonel Byrd, 
of Virginia, marched into the country in 1758, and 
built Fort Chissel, garrisoning it with part of his regi- 
ment. Another fort was established by him on the 
north bank of the Holston river. These forts and 
the garrisons in them seemed to make the country 
desirable for permanent settlement and people began 
to stream in ; when estranged from their allegiance 
to the English by dexterous French agents, the 
Cherokees commenced again hostilities. The ensuing 
war was bitter and disastrous ; the only white settle- 
ment within the boundaries of the present State of 
Tennessee, around Fort Loudon, was entirely broken 
up, and quiet was only restored when, in 1761, the 
Cherokees, much weakened, sued for peace and en- 
tered into a new treaty of amity with the Colonial 
troops. Either the expedition of Colonel Bouquet, 
spoken of in a former chapter, had an effect on the 
Indians south of the Ohio, or the absence of settle- 
ments, to be plundered, kept them on their good be- 
havior, and the parties of hunters and explorers, who 
began to traverse the country in every direction had 
no cause to complain of the treatment by the abo- 
riginal inhabitants. But no new farms were made until 
1 768, when ten families came from near the present 
Raleigh, North Carolina, and established themselves 
on the Watauga.* Other people from North Caro. 
lina and Virginia followed, and " about the years 
1768, 1769 and 1770, such was the reigning fashion 

* A branch of the Holston. 



In Colonial Days. 213 

of the time as eminently promoted the emigration of 
its people from North Carolina."* The same causes, 
which induced Daniel Boone to remove from the 
Yadkin, made a body of the North Carolinians rise, 
under the name of Regulators, against the oppression 
of Royal officials, and when defeated in a fight on 
the Alamance creek, f some of them fled to the fast- 
nesses on the Holston river. The taxation of the 
people had become so unbearable, that the land-owner 
had to seek new fields in which to repair his broken 
fortunes, and the poorer classes were compelled to go 
somewhere in search of independence and a respect- 
able existence. These were powerful incentives and 
the people obeyed them by streaming into the country 
west of the mountains. 

At the head of the little Colony, formed on the 
Watauga, was James Robertson, who distinguished 
himself during the war of the Revolution and became 
in many ways closely identified with the history of 
the State of Tennessee. The new settlement in- 
creased rapidly in population, and within three years 
was able to muster about three hundred men able to 
bear arms. 

The policy of a government will gradually warp 
the intellect of the people. As the British govern- 
ment claimed to be the owner of all lands east of the 
Mississippi by the conquest of the French, without 
consideration for Indian rights, so this settlement on 

* Haywood, p. 39. 

f Runs into Haw river, North Carolina. 



214 The Ohio Valley 

the Watauga found itself on Indian territory as tres- 
passers. For the treaty, made between Virginia and 
the Cherokees, established the boundary line from 
White Top mountain westward to Holston river, on 
a parallel of about 36 N. L. Alexander Cameron 
the Deputy Agent of Indian Affairs residing among 
the Cherokees was, therefore, only fulfilling his duty 
when he ordered the settlers to move off. But some 
of the Cherokees expressed a desire that the tres- 
passers might be permitted to remain, provided they 
would make no further encroachments. 

The settlers took advantage of this favorable and 
friendly disposition shown by the owners of the land. 
They deputed James Robertson and John Bean, in 
1 771, to treat with their landlords on a basis of 
accommodation and amicable intercourse. The nego- 
tiations resulted in a lease for eight years, for although 
unwilling to give up their lands for no equivalent, 
they consented to lease all the country along the 
waters of the Watauga for a stipulated amount of 
merchandise, muskets and other Indian goods. The 
next year a similar settlement was made on the Noli- 
chuky river, under like circumstances, by Jacob 
Brown, and two other families from North Carolina. 
The sums paid out under the above conditions were 
recovered by sales of land to new comers and thus a 
nursery of population was planted in East Ten- 
nessee. 

To our modern mind the situation of these pioneers 
of European civilization in the heart of the great 



hi Colonial Days. 215 

American wilderness offers a most romantic picture. 
They were far removed from the parent provinces, 
separated from them by trackless forests and high 
mountain ranges ; their governments could neither 
control nor protect them and had most likely forgot- 
ten their very existence. It was almost a repetition 
of the story told by the Good Book of Adam and 
Eve in Paradise. And this story happened not much 
more than 100 years ago. 

Apparently the peaceful spirit of Paradise pervaded 
the new settlements, for we hear of no discords among 
the inhabitants and of no hostile encounters with the 
Indians. 

The rapid increase of population told the leading 
men on the Watauga and on the Nolichuky, that a 
code of laws was indispensable for the maintenance 
of this no less remarkable, than beneficial condition. 
It was drawn up to be signed by every individual. 
If any one should refuse, he was to be debarred from 
its benefits, but every settler signed it. The new 
laws provided for the election of magistrates, called 
trustees, by whom all controversies were to be de- 
cided conformably to the written code. Thus organ- 
ized, their affairs continued prosperous till the 
commencement of the war for Independence. The 
population had then increased to such an extent, that 
about 800 riflemen could join their friends in the con- 
test for liberty. 

The settling of West Tennessee falls into a period 
a few years later and therefore is not to be treated of 



216 The Ohio Valley 

here. But like that of East Tennessee it was full of 
incidents, which compel our admiration for the courage 
and astuteness of the men who followed the advice 
of the late Horace Greeley, " Go West, young man," 
before it was given. They were surrounded by so 
many concentric circles of danger and perplexities, 
that human assistance was out of the question. Their 
nearest neighbors, at Lexington, were 200 miles 
away and scarce able to protect themselves. The 
settlement at Holston was $00 miles from them and 
no roads led there. But notwithstanding these diffi- 
culties they were preserved and prospered and are 
now a rich and vigorous people. 



In Colonial Days. 2 1 7 

APPENDIX A. 

Extract from the Journal of Galinee.* 

After thirty-five days of very difficult navigation 
we arrived at a small river, called by the Indians 
" Karontaguat," which is the nearest point on the lake 
to " Sonnontouan," and about 100 leagues South 

West of Montreal 43 12 N. Lat. . . . M. Dol- 

lier, M. de la Salle and myself consulted together, in 
order to determine in what manner we should act, 
what we should offer for presents and how we should 
give them. It was determined, that I should go to 
the village with M. de la Salle for the purpose of 
obtaining a captive taken from the nation, whom we 
desired to visit, who could conduct us thither and 
that we should take with us eight of our Frenchmen, 
leaving the rest with M. Dollier in charge of our 
canoes. . . . When we were within a league of the 
village the halts were more frequent. . . . , until we 
finally came in sight of the great village. ... In order 
to reach it we had to ascend a small hill, on the edge 
of which the village is situated. As soon as we had 
ascended the hill, we saw a large number of old men 
seated on the grass, expecting our approach. They 

* Rene de Brehan de Galinee, a missionary of the Order of St. Sulpitius, 
who became one of la Salle's companions, as stated in the text, is the writer 
of this journal. He was well acquainted with the Algonquin dialect and 
had some reputation as surveyor and astronomer. 
28 



2i8 The Ohio Valley 

had left a convenient place in front, in which they 

invited us to sit down. 

* -x- * * * * 

The third and last present, which we gave, were 
two coats, four kettles, six hatchets and some glass 
beads, with which we announced, that we had come 
on the part of Onontio,* to see the people called by 
them "Toagenha"f living on the river Ohio and we 
asked from them a captive of that country, to be our 
guide. They considered it was necessary to think 
over our proposition. . . . We thus consumed the 
time for eight or ten days. . . . During our stay at 
that village, we inquired particularly about the road 
we must take to reach the Ohio river and were told 
to £o in search of it from Sonnontouan. That it 
required six days' journey by land of about twelve 
leagues each. \ 

This induced us to believe, that we possibly could 
not reach it in that way, as we would hardly be able 
to carry for so long a journey our necessary pro- 
visions, much less our baggage. But they told us at 
the same time, that in going to find it by the way of 
Lake Erie, in canoes, we would have only a portage 
of three days before reaching that river, reaching it 
at a point much nearer to the people, whom we de- 
sired to find, than by way of Sonnontouan. 

* Onontio means Great Mountain and was the Iroquois name for Gov- 
ernor Montmagny, and later all the other French Governors. 

|Otoagannha= People speaking corrupt Algonquin. Relation, 1661-2, 
p. 9. 

% Probably by portages from the head of the Genesee to the Alleghany. 



In Colonial Days. 219 

What troubled us however more than all else was, 
what the Indians told our Dutch interpreter. They 
called him insane for wishing to go to the Toagenhas, 
who were a very bad people, sure to kill us. Besides 
this, we would run great risk along the river Ohio of 
meeting the Ontastoes,* who would most certainly 
break our heads. Therefore the Senecas were not 
willing to go with us, as they feared that our deaths 
would be charged to them. . . . We were relieved of 
all this difficulty by the arrival from the Dutch of an 
Indian, who lodged in our cabin. His home was the 
village of one of the Five cantons of Iroquois at the 
end of Lake Ontario. This Indian assured us, that 
we would have no trouble in rinding a guide, as a 
number of captives from the tribes we desired to 
visit were in his village and he would cheerfully con- 
duct us to his home. 

It was under the influence of these hopes, that we 

left the Sonnontouans We waited here (at 

Ganastogue Sonontoua O-tin-a-oua-ta-oua) until the 
chiefs of the village came to meet us with some men 
to carry our effects. . . . They made us still another 
present of about 5000 wampum and afterwards two 
captives for guides. One of them belonged to the 
Chouanons nation, the other to the Nez Perces. The 
Chouanon fell to M. de la Salle, the other to us. 



* The Andastes or Guyandots may be meant. They lived, according to 
Gallatin (Syn. Ind. Tr. 76), on the Alleghany river. The war with the Iro- 
quois, in which they were engaged at this time, ended in their destruction, 
1672. 



2 20 The Ohio Valley 



APPENDIX B. 

A Journal from Virginia Beyond the Appala- 
chian Mountains in Sept r , 1671, sent to the 
Royal Society by M r Clayton, and Read Aug. 
1, 1688, before the said Society. 

1671 

Sep tr 1. Thomas Batts, Thomas Woods, and Rob- 
ert Fallam, having received a commission from the 
Hon'ble Major General Wood for the finding out the 
ebbing and flowing of the Water on the other side 
of the Mountains, in order to the discovery of the 
South Sea, accompanied with Perecute, a great Man 
of the Apomatack Indians, and Jack Neasam, for- 
merly Servant to Major General Wood with five 
horses set forward from the Apomatacks Town about 
eight of the Clock in the morning, being Friday 
Sepf. I st . 1 67 1. That day we travelled about 40 
Miles, took up our quarters, and found, that we had 
travelled from the Okenechee path due West. 

Sep tr 2. We travelled about 45 Miles and came to 
our quarters at Sun set, and found we were to the 
North of the West. 

Sep tr 3. We travelled West and by South Course 
and about three o'Clock came to a great swamp a 
Mile and a half or two Miles over, and very difficult 
to pass. We led our horses thro' and waded twice 
over a River emptying itself into Roanoke River. 
After we were over we went North west and so came 



In Colonial Days. 221 

round and took up our quarters West this day we 
travelled 40 Miles good. 

Sep r 4. We set forward and about two of the Clock 
arrived at the Sapony Indians Town. We travelled 
South and by West course till about noon, and came 
to the Sapony West. Here we were very joyfully 
and kindly received with firing of Guns and plenty 
of provision. We here hired a Sapony Indian to 
be our Guide towards the Totoras a nearer way 
than usual. 

Sep tr 5. I wot as we were ready to take horse and 
March from the Sapony's, about seven of the Clock 
in the morning we heard some guns go off from the 
other side of the River. They were seven Apoma- 
tack Indians sent by Major General Wood to accom- 
pany us in our Voyage. We hence sent back a horse 
belonging to M r Thomas Wood which was tired, by a 
Portugal belonging to Major General Wood, whom 
we here found. About eleven of the Clock we set 
forward and that night came to the Town of the 
Flanakaskies which we judge to be 25 Miles from the 
Sapony's and received the like or better entertain- 
ment than from the Sapony's The Town lying west 
and by North is an Island on the Sapony River, rich 
land. 

Sep tr 6. About 1 1 of the Clock we set forward 
from the Flanakaskies but left M r Thomas Wood at 
the Town dangerously sick of the Flux and the horse 
he rode on belonging to Major General Wood was 
likewise taken with the staggers and a failing in 



222 The Ohio Valley 

his hinder parts. Our course was this Day West 
and by South, and we took up our quarters West 
about 20 Miles from the Town. This afternoon our 
horses stray'd away about one of the Clock. 

Sep tr 7. We set forward about three of the Clock. 
We had sight of the Mountains. We travelled 25 
Miles over very hilly and stony Ground, our course 
westerly. 

Sep tr 8. We set out by sun rise, and travelled all 
day a west and by north course, about one of the 
Clock we came to a Tree mark'd in the path with a 
Coal M A. N J about four of the Clock we came to 
the foot of the first Mountain went to the Top, and 
then came to a small descent, and so did rise again, 
and then till we came almost to the bottom was a 
very steep descent. We travelled all day over very 
Stony Rocky ground and after 30 Miles travell this 
clay we came to our quarters at the foot of the Moun- 
tain due West. We past the Sapony River twice 
this Day. 

Sep tr 9. We were stirring with the Sun and trav- 
elled West and after a little riding came again to the 
Sapony River, where it was very narrow, and ascended 
the second Mountain which wound up west and by 
South with several risings and fallings, after which 
we came to a steep descent at the foot whereof was 
a lovely descending Valley about six Miles over, with 
curious small risings : indifferent good way. Our 
course over it was South West, after we were over 
that we came to a very steep descent at the foot 



In Colonial Days. 



--3 



where of stood the Tatera Town in a very rich swamp 
between a branch of the main River of Roanoke, 
circled about with Mountains, we got thither about 
three of the Clock, after we had travelled 25 Miles. 
Here we were exceedingly civilly entertained. Sat- 
urday night Sunday, and Monday we staid at the 
Toteras Perecute being taken very sick of a fever 
and ague every afternoon notwithstanding on Tues- 
day Morning about nine of the clock we resolved to 
leave our horses with the Toteras and set forward. 

Sep tr 12. We left the Town West and by North. 
We Travelled that day sometimes southerly some- 
times northerly, as* the path went over several high 
mountains and steep Vallies crossing several branches 
and the River Roanoke several times, all exceedingly 
stony ground untill about four o Clock Perecute 
being taken with his fit and we were very weary, we 
took up our quarters by the side of Roanoke River 
almost at the head of it at the foot of the Great 
Mountain. Our course was West and by North, 
having travelled 25 Miles, at the Toteras we hired 
one of their Indians for our Guide, and left one of 
the Apomatack Indians there sick. 

Sep tr 13. In the Morning we set forward early, 
after we had travelled about three Miles we came to 
the foot of the great Mountain, and found a very 
steep ascent, so that we could scarce keep ourselves 
from sliding down again. It continued for three 
Miles with small intermission of better way. Right 
up by the Path on the left we saw the proportion of 



224 The Ohio Valley 

the Man* there growing very high weeds and grass 
about it, but nothing but moss on the place. When 
we were got up to the top of the Mountain and set 
down very weary we saw very high Mountains lying 
to the north and South as far as we could discern. 
Our Course up the Mountain was West and by North 
a very small descent on the other side, and as soon 
as over we found the Vallies tending westerly. It 
was a pleasing tho dreadfull sight to see the Moun- 
tains and Hills as if piled one upon another. After we 
had travelled about three miles from the Mountains 
easily descending ground about 12 of the Clock we 
came to two Trees mark'd with a Coal M. A. N J 
the other cut in with M. A. and several other scrable- 
ments hard by a run just like the swift Creek at M r 
Randolphs in Virginia, emptying itself sometimes 
westerly sometimes northerly, with curious meadows 
on each side, going forward we found rich ground 
but stony curious rising hills and brave meadows 
with grass above man's height many Rivers running 
West north West and several runs from the South- 
erly Mountains, which we saw as we marched, which 
run northerly into the great River. After we had 
travelled about 7 Miles we came to a very steep de- 
scent where we found a great run, which emptied 
itself as we supposed into the great River northerly 
our Course being as the path went, west south west, 
We set forward West and had not ^one far, but we 

* Whereof they had given an account it seems in a former Relation which 
I have not. (Note of Mr. Clayton.) 



In Colonial Days. 225 

met again with the River still broad, running West 
and by North. We went over the great run empty- 
ing itself northerly into the great River. After we 
had marched about 6 Miles north West and by North 
we came to the River again where it was much 
broader than at the two other places. It ran here 
west and by South and so as we suppose wound up 
westerly. Here we took up our quarters, after we 
had waded over, for this night due west. The soil 
the farther we went, the richer. Stony, full of brave 
meadows and old fields. * 

Sep tr 14. We set forward before sun rise our pro- 
vision being all spent. We travelled as the path went 
sometimes southerly sometimes northerly over good 
ground but stony, sometimes rising hills, and then 
steep descents, as we marched in a clear place at the 
top of a hill we saw ag 1 us lying south West a curious 
prospect of hills like waves raised by a gentle breese 
of wind rising one after another. M r Batt supposed 
he saw houses : but I rather think them to be white 
Cliffs. We marched about 20 Miles this day and 
about three of the Clock took up our quarters to see 
if our Indians could kill us some Deer, beino- West 
and by North very weary and hungry and Perecute 
continuing very ill yet desirous to go forward. We 
came this day over several brave runs and hope to- 
morrow to see the Main River aeain. 



*01d fields is a common expression for Land that has been cultivated by 
Indians, and left fallow, which are generally overrun with what they call 
broome grats. (Note in the original MSS.) 
29 



S p ta 15, Yesterday in the afternoon and this day 
we lived a dog's life hunger and Ease Our Indians 
having done their best could kill us no meat. The 
deer they said were in such herds and the ground so 
dry that one or other of them would spy them. No 
remedy. About one of the Clock we set forward 
and went about 16 Miles over some exceeding good 
and some indifferent ground a West and by North 
course till we came to a great run. that empties itself 
west and by North, as we suppose into the great 
River which we hope is nigh at hand. As we 
marched we met with some wild geese, berries and 
exceeding large haw's, with which we were forced to 
feed ourselves. 

Sep* 1 10. Our Guide went from us Yesterday and 
we saw him no more till we returned to the Toteras. 
Our Indians went a ranging betimes to see and kill 

some Peer as Meat. One came and told us they 
heard a drum and a gun go off to the northward. 
They brought us some exceeding good grapes and 
killed two turkies. which were very welcome and with 
which we refreshed ourselves, and about ten of the 
Clock set forward and after we had travelled about 
ten miles, one of our Indians killed us a Deer and 
presently afterwards we had sight of a curious River 
like Apamatack River Its Course here was north 
and so as we suppose runs West about certain 
curious Mountains we saw westward. Here we took 
up our quarters our course having been West. We 
understand the Mohecan Indians did here formerlv 



fn Colonial Days. 227 

live. It cannot be long since for we find corn stalks 
in the ground. 

Sep** iy. Early in the Morning- we went to seek 

some trees to mark, our Indians being impatient of 
longer stay, by reason it was like to be bad weather 
and that it was so difficult to get provision. We 
found four Trees exceeding- fit for our purpose, that 
had been half barked by our Indians, standing one 
after the other. We first proclaimed the King in 
these words : " Long live Charles the Second by the 
"Grace of God King of England, Scotland, Erance, 
" and Ireland and Virginia and of all the Territories 
"thereunto belonging. Defender of the Eaith &c " 
fired some guns and went to the first tree which we 
marked thus I jt I with a pair of marking Irons 
11 Majesty then the next thus WJj 
C__R\ hon'ble Governor S r William 



for his sacred 



for the right 

Berkley the third thus^^ for the hon'ble Major Gen- 
eral Wood the last thus 73" : K F. I J for Perecute 
who said he would turn Englishman and on another 
tree hard by these letters one under another E. N. 
TT. N P. VER. after we had done we went our seb 
down to the River side, but not without great diffi- 
culty it being a piece of very rich ground whereon 
the Moketans (sic) had former]}' lived and grown up 
so with weeds and small prickly locusts and thistles to 
a very great hight that it was almost impossible to 
pass. It cost us hard labour to get through. When 
we came to the River side we found it better and 
broader than we expected much like James River at 



228 The Ohio Valley 

Col. Staggs the falls much like these falls, we imag- 
ined by the Water marks that it flows here about 
three feet. It was ebbing Water when we were here. 
We set up a Stick by the Water side, but found it 
ebb very slowly. Our Indians kept such a hallowing, 
that we durst not stay any longer to make farther 
trial. Immediately upon our coming to our quarters, 
we returned homewards, and when we were on the 
Top of the hill, we turned about and saw over against 
us westerly over a certain delightfull hill a fog arise 
and a glimmering light as from Water. We suppose 
there to be a great Bay. We came to the Toteras 
tuesday night, where we found our horses well and 
ourselves well entertained. We immediately had the 
news of M r Byrd and his great Company Discovery 
three miles from the Toteras Town. We here found 
a Mohekan Indian who having intelligence of our 
coming were afraid it had been to fight them, and 
had sent him to the Toteras to inquire. We gave 
him satisfaction to the contrary and that we came as 
friends, presented him with three or four Shots of 
Powder. He told us by our Interpreter, that we had 
from the Mountains half way to the place they now 
lived at. That the next town beyond them lived 
upon plain level, from whence came abundance of 
Salt. That he could inform us no farther by reason 
that there were a very great company of Indians that 
lived upon the great Water. 

Sep tr 21. After very civil Entertainment, we came 
from the Toteras, and on Sunday Morning the 24 th we 



In Colo7iial Days. 229 

came to the Flanakaskies. We found M r Wood 
dead, and buried, and his horse likewise dead, after 
Civil Entertainment with firing of Guns at parting 
which is more than usual. 

Sep tr 25. On Monday morning we came from thence 
and reached to the Sapony's that night where we 
stayed till Wednesday. 

Sep tr 27. We came from thence, they having been 
very courteous to us. At night we came to the 
Apomatack Town being very wet and weary. 

Oct r 1. Being Sunday Morning we arrived safe at 
Fort Henry. 

God's holy name be praised for our Preservation.* 

Extract of a Letter of M r . Clayton to the 
Royal Society, read to them Octob r 24, 1688. 

Wakefield Aug. 17. 1688. 
My last was the Journal of Thomas Batts Thomas 
Woods, and Robert Fallam. I know Col. Byr'd that 
is mentioned to have been about that time as far as 
the Toteras. He is one of the intelligentest Gentle- 
man in all Virginia and knows more of Indian affairs 
than any Man in the Country. I discoursed him 
about the River on the other side the Mountains said 
to ebb and flow, which he assured me was a mistake 
in them, for that it must run into a Lake now called 
Petite which is fresh Water, for since that time a 
Colony of the French are come down from Canadas 
and have seated themselves in the back of Vireinia, 

*This Journal is also given in N. Y. Col. Doc, III, 196. 



230 The Ohio Valley 

where Fallam and the rest supposed there might be 
a Bay, but is a Lake, which they have given the name 
of Lake Petite, there being several large Lakes be- 
twixt that and Canada. The French possessing 
themselves of these Lakes no doubt will in a short 
time be absolutely Masters of the Beaver trade, the 
greatest number of Beavers being caught there. 

The Colonel told me likewise that the common 
notion of the Lake of Canada, he was assured, was 
a mistake, for the River supposed to come out of it 
had no Communication with any of the Lakes nor 
they with one another, but were distinct. 



APPENDIX C. 



Remarks on the Journal of Batts and Fallam in 
their Discovery of the Western Parts of Vir- 
ginia in 1671. By John Mitchell, M. D., F. R. 
S. [about 1755]. 

This Discovery of Batts and Fallam is well known 
in the history of Virginia, and there is no manner of 
doubt of its being authentic, altho' it has not yet 
been published by the Royal Society. The account 
given of this Discovery by R. B.* (Robert Beverly 
Esq re , a gentleman of note and distinction in the 
Countrey who was well acquainted with it and its his- 
tory) agrees very well with this original account of 

* History of Virginia. 



In Colonial Days. 231 

it ; altho he is not so particular in describing the 
Place that these Discoverers went to, that we may be 
able to fix upon the spot, which I think we may do 
from the Journal itself, and that from the following 
considerations. 

i°. The Appamatrick Town, the place that they 
went from, is well known in Virginia to this day, at 
least the River it stood upon, which is the Southern 
branch of James River, that is well known by the 
name of Appamatox : and Capt. Smith, who was at 
this Town of Appamatrick, as he calls it laies it down 
on the River of Appomatox a little below the Falls 
opposite to where the Towns of Petersburgh or 
Blandford now stand : as may be seen by comparing 
his Map of Virginia with our Map of North America. 

2 . From this Town of Appamatack they set out 
along the path that leads to Aconeechy, which is an 
Indian Town on the borders of Virginia and Caro- 
lina, marked in all our maps, from which path they 
travelled due west, now you will see both these Roads 
laid down in our map of North America, and exactly 
as they are described in this Journal, they being the 
two Roads that lead from the Falls of Appamatox 
River Southward to Carolina, and Westward to our 
Settlements on Wood River in Virginia. 

3 . This Road that goes to the Westward which 
was the one that our Travellers went crosses three 
branches of Roanoke River a little below the Moun- 
tains, just as it is described in the Journal as may be 
seen by comparing the Journal with our Map above 



232 The Ohio Valley 

mentioned. This branch of Roanoke River is called 
Sapony River in the Journal which has been called 
Staunton River (in memory of the Lady of the late 
Governor of Virginia) ever since the Survey of those 
parts in running the boundary line between Virginia 
and Carolina in 1729. The Sapony and Totera In- 
dians mentioned in the Journal were then removed 
farther South upon the Islands of Pidee River, as 
may be seen in the Map of Carolina by M r Mosley 
one of the Surveyors in running that line, and they 
are now removed to the Southward of that among 
the Catawbas as it is well known that all the Indians 
of those parts have gone for many years, in order to 
protect themselves against the Iroquois who have 
overrun all those parts, and here we find a River that 
still retains the name of Sapony or Johnston River, 
but a great way to the Southward of the River men- 
tioned in the Journal by that name. 

4 . From the branches of Roanoke River they 
passed over the Mountains and came to a large river 
west of the Mountains running North and South, 
which plainly appears from this account of it to have 
been what we call Wood River in Virginia which is 
well known and well settled by our People there, both 
above and below the Place where these People dis- 
covered it, and they frequently pass the Mountains 
now in going to and from Wood River about the 
same place that is described in the Journal. 

5 . Nigh this River they saw from the Tops of the 
Mountains an appearance of a Water at a distance, 



In Colonial Days. 233 

like a Lake or Arm of the Sea. The same observa- 
tion is made by another Person M r Christopher Gist 
who lately surveyed this Country hereabouts, and 
indeed upon the spot described in the Journal, as 
appears from both their Routes as laid clown in our 
Map abovementioned, which cross one another about 
the place where these discoverers fell in with the 
great River, as they call it. The water seen by Gist 
was known by him to be Wood River a little lower 
down, where it passes a great ridge of the Mountains 
that lye to the Westward. 

6°. When they arrived at this River, they were in- 
formed of a numerous and warlike nation of Indians, 
that lived on the great water, and made Salt, the 
accounts of whom prevented their going any farther ; 
all which is agreeable to the History of those Times. 
The Indians they mean were the ancient Chawanoes, 
or Chaouanous, who lived to the Westward and North- 
ward of the Place that these Discoverers were at : 
and were at this time, 1671, engaged in a hot and 
bloody war with the Iroquois in which they were so 
closely pressed at this time that they were entirely 
extirpated or incorporated with the Iroquois the year 
following. These people might make salt no doubt 
as the present inhabitants of those parts do, from the 
many Salt Springs that are found on the Rivers Ohio 
and Missisipi. And as for the great water that they 
lived upon that appears even by name to have been 
the Missisipi, which is so called from Mescha, Cebe 
two words in the Indian Language that signify the 
3° 



234 The Ohio Valley 

great River or Water, so that if we had the Indian 
name of this great water mentioned by our Travel- 
lers, instead of the interpretation of it in English it 
is impossible it might have been the Name they give 
it we see means the same thing. 

7°. The distance that these people travelled was 
338 Miles, besides what they went on the fourth day 
of their Journey, which they do not mention, but by 
their usual rate of travelling might be about 18 or 
20 Miles, which makes about 360 Miles in all and 
allmost due West. This is much farther to the 
Westward than we lay down Wood River at present, 
when we have had its true Western Distance actually 
measured in running the Boundary between Virginia 
and Carolina. But it is very probable as M r Beverly 
saies in his History, that these Travellers in passing 
the Mountains in particular might not advance above 
three or four Miles a day in a Strait Course. It has 
been generally found by our Surveyors in the Woods 
of America as I have been told by some of them, 
and as appears indeed from their surveys compared 
with the accounts of Travellers that a true measured 
distance on a strait course is about one third of the 
usual distance completed by Travellers in the Woods 
where they have no strait Roads and known distances 
to guide them, accordingly we find from these Sur- 
veys of the Countrey that it is about 140 Miles in a 
strait course from the Falls of Appomatox River to 
Wood River in Virginia which is a little more than one 
third of the distance computed by our Discoverers. 



Iii Colonial Days. 235 

Again : it is an usual way to compute distances in 
the Woods of America by Dayes Journeys and those 
that are used to it come pretty nigh the truth by 
allowing 25 or 30 Miles a day according to the Road, 
which makes about 10 Miles a Day in a strait course. 
Now these People travelled 15 Daies, and by this 
rule must have travelled 150 Miles on a strait Road 
and accordingly we find it just 160 Miles from the 
falls of Appomatox River in Virginia, where they 
set out to Wood River upon the Road as it is laid 
down in our Map of North America in which the 
longitude or Western distances are laid down from 
the late Surveys of those parts. 

From these several considerations compared to- 
gether, it plainly appears, that the great River as 
they call it which these People discovered on the 
West side of the Mountains of Virginia, was this 
branch of the River Ohio that is well known by the 
name of Wood River :* which is the chief and prin- 
cipal branch of the Ohio, that rises in the Mountains 
of South Carolina and Virginia, falls into the Ohio 
about midway between Fort du Quesne and the Mis- 
sisipi and the place they discovered it at seems to be 
about the middle of that River, which has always re- 
tained the name of Wood River, from this Major 
General Wood, or Col. Wood as he is called in Vir- 
ginia who we see by the Journal was the Author of 
this Discovery. 

This Journal then is a plain Narration of well 

* Also called New River in Colonial times and now Great Kanahwa. 



236 The Ohio Valley 

known matters of Fact relating to the discoveries of 
those Western Parts of Virginia and that many years 
before any others even pretend to have made any 
Discoveries in those or any other of the Western 
Parts of North America beyond the Appalachean 
Mountains. It contains likewise plain proofs of the 
other Discoveries that were made here and here 
abouts some time before, which were made by one 
Needham, by order of Col. Wood of Virginia : and 
the inverted letters M. A, N. E. found on the Trees 
by our Travellers, seem to have been the Names of 
these two Persons, cut on the Trees as a memorial 
of their Discoveries as is usually done by Travellers 
in the Woods, and as we see was done by ours at this 
time. The many letters they found on the Trees on 
Wood River are likewise plain proofs of others 
having been there before them. This is a plain con- 
firmation of what is related by M r Coxe's Hist, of 
Carolina in a memorial presented by him to King 
William in 1699, and by several others, that all those 
Western Parts of Virginia were discovered by Col. 
Wood in several J ournies from the Years 1654 to 1 664. 
These Discoveries are the more interesting at this 
time, as those parts are now claimed by the French 
merely and solely upon a frivolous pretext of a prior 
discovery by M r La Salle in 1680:* who built the 
Fort Crevecoeur on or below the Lake Pimiteone in 
that year, which seems to be the Lake Petite alluded 

* The discovery by La Salle in 1669 was apparently either forgotten or 
willfully ignored. 



In Colonial Days. 237 

to in the extract of M r Claytons letter, from a very 
imperfect knowledge of it, which Lake upon the 
River Illinois is not less perhaps than a thousand 
Miles beyond or to the Westward of Fort du Ouesne 
and the other places that the French now claim on 
the River Ohio in consequence of that discovery as 
they call it. 

Besides M r La Salle had even that discovery of 
his, that has been so much extolled and magnified, 
from the English, who by being so well settled in so 
many parts of this Continent, might surely very nat- 
urally conclude and easily know from many accounts 
of the Natives, that there was a very extensive con- 
tinent to the Westward of them which these discov- 
eries in Virginia as well as the Travels of Ferdinando 
Soto through Florida and over the Rio Grande as he 
calls it or the Missisipi in 1 541, that had been pub- 
lished to the World, might give them some more 
particular account of and excite their curiosity to 
make farther Discoveries in it.* accordingly in the 
year 1678 a Party of People from New England dis- 
covered all these Western Parts of America to the 
Northward of Virginia as far as the Missisipi, and a 
great way beyond it which discovery of the English 
gave occasion to the discovery of the same parts two 
years afterwards by M r La Salle, for the Indians who 
were with the English and served them as Guides in 
this Discovery went to Canada upon their return and 

* No authentic account of this expedition of a party of New England 
people has ever been discovered. (Note by Mr. Sparks.) 



238 The Ohio Valley 

gave an account of these discoveries, of the English 
to the French, who thereupon set out to make the 
same Discovery, by Virtue of which they now pre- 
tend to claim nine tenths at least of all the known 
parts of the Continent of North America, and all 
the rest that is not known which may be as much 
more by all accounts. 

It is true our People have not wrote as many His- 
tories of their Discoveries as the French have nor 
even published those that have been wrote we see 
any more than the Spaniards but then we have made 
many such discoveries, appear best from the Settle- 
ments that we have made which compared with those 
of the French are about twenty to one. (In the year 
1 714, immediately after the Treaty of Utrecht, Col. 
Spottiswood Governor of Virginia went over the 
Apalactean Mountains himself in Person in company 
with several Gentlemen of the Countrey that are and 
have been well known to me who had a good Road 
cleared over them and many settlements were made 
beyond those Mountains soon afterwards, both in 
the Northern and Southern parts of Virginia, but 
chiefly in the Northern Parts leading towards the Ohio, 
which Settlements extended to Logs Town on the 
River Ohio lonof before the late encroachments and 
usurpation of the French there. The English first 
settled on the' Ohio from Pensalvania in the year 
1725, as appears from their treaty with the Indians 
at Albany in 1754 and many other accounts. In 1736 
those Parts were duly Surveyed and laid off by a com- 



Iji Colonial Days. 239 

pany of Surveyors as far as the Head Springs of the 
River Potowmack and in 1739 or 1740, a party of 
People were sent out by the Government of Virginia 
and traversed the whole Countrey, down Wood River 
and the River Ohio to the Missisipi and down that 
River to New Orleans, whose Journals I have seen 
and perused and have made a draught of the Coun- 
trey from them and find them agree with other and 
later accounts. About that time a number of People 
petitioned the Government of Virginia to grant them 
a Settlement upon the River Missisipi itself about 
the mouth of the River Ohio which they offered to 
maintain and defend as well as to settle at their own 
charge, so well were all those Western Parts of Vir- 
ginia then known and frequented by our People : 
But they were refused this request by our Govern- 
ment itself, who have always prudently thought it 
more expedient to continue their Settlements con- 
tieuous to one another than to suffer them to be 
straggling up and down in remote and uncultivated 
Desarts, as we see the French have done in order 
thereby to seem to occupy a greater Extent of Ter- 
ritory, while in effect they hardly occupy any at all. 
Yet we are not without many of those Settlements 
among the Indians likewise and that in a Country 
which we have purchased from them three several 
times. In the year 1749 our People made a settle- 
ment among the Twightwee Indians at Pickawillany, 
which is reckoned by our Traders 500 Miles beyond 
Fort du Qucsne, to which they were invited by the 



240 The Ohio Valley 

Natives themselves, who came down to Lancaster in 
Pensylvania for that purpose and made a treaty to 
that effect with our People there Jul. 2 2 d 1749. By 
this means we made several Settlements all along- 
the River Ohio and all over the Countrey between 
that River and Lake Erie and that long before the 
French ever set a foot upon it, or knew anything 
about it, but by hearsay. And on the south side of 
the Ohio, we are not only well settled on Wood 
River, that is described in this Journal but likewise 
on Holston River that lies upwards of 150 Miles to 
the Westward of the Place that these Peopled Dis- 
covered on Wood River in 1671 and again on Cum- 
berland River that lies as much farther to the West- 
ward of that : all which places and Settlements you 
will see marked in our map abovementioned." — 



APPENDIX D. 



Papers Relating to the Ohio Company (from the 
Archives of the Board of Trade and Planta- 
tions in London.)* 

1. Sir W m Gooch, Governor of Virginia to the 
Lords of Trade, Novbr 6, 1747, B. T. V a vol 19 

Having been lately much sollicited by several Per- 
sons in Partnership for Grants for Lands lying on 

* I am indebted to Mr. Robert Clarke, of Cincinnati, Ohio, for copies of 
these documents. 



In Colonial Days. 241 

the Western side of the Great Mountains, where we 
have already two Counties well peopled, very near, 
if not upon the Borders of some of the Branches of 
Mississippi, extending to the Lake Erie (which would 
cut off the communication the French have from 
that Place to Canada), in order, as it is the Center 
of all His Majesty's Provinces, to the carrying on a 
more extensive Skin Trade with several Nations of 
Indians, who are willing to enter into Commerce with 
us : tho' I am persuaded that the granting such Peti- 
tions would in the course of a few years be productive 
of many national advantages, as well as a great In- 
crease of his Majesty's Quit rents, yet I thought and 
the Council concurred with me in opinion, that we 
ought not to comply therewith, till His Majesty's 
Permission was first obtained 

4. Order of the committee of Council for Planta- 
tions on the preceding letter. Febr 23, 1 747-8 B. 
T. V a Vol 20 

His Majesty having been pleased by His Order in 
Council of the 10 th of this instant to referr unto this 
Committee a representation from the Lords Commis- 
sioners for Trade and Plantations together with an 
Extract of a letter they had lately received from S r 
William Gooch Bart, Lieutenant Governor of His 
Majesty's Colony of Virginia dated the 6 th of No- 
vember 1747, wherein he acquainted the said Lords 
Commissioners, that application had been made to 
him by persons in Partnership for Grants of lands, 
lying on the western side of the great Mountains 
31 



242 The Ohio Valley 

but that he did not think proper to comply therewith, 
until he had received His Majesty's directions therein, 
The Lords of the Committee this day took the 
same into their consideration and are hereby pleased 
to order that the said Lords Commissioners for Trade 
and Plantations do consider, whether it may be for 
His Majesty's Service, and the advantage of the said 
Colony to empower the said Lieut-Governor to make 
grants of lands to Persons in Partnership on the 
western side of the great Mountains as desired and 
that they do make Report thereof to this Committee. 

2. Lords of Trade to the Duke of New Castle, 
one of the Principal Secretaries of State, January 19, 
1747-8 Lib. 38, p. 410. 

Having lately received a letter from Sir William 
Gooch, Bar 1 , Lieut-Governor of His Majestys Col- 
ony of Virginia, dated the 6 th of November 1 747, 
wherein he acquaints Us that application had been 
made to him for Grants of Lands lying on the Western 
side of the Great Mountains, but that he did not 
think proper to comply therewith, until he received 
his Majesty's directions therein, We take leave to 
inclose to your Grace an Extract of so much of the 
said Letter as relates thereto and desire your Grace 
will please to lay the same before his Majesty for his 
Majestys Directions 

3. Same to Sir W m Gooch, January 19, 1747-8 
B. T. V a . No. 38 p. 408-9. 

.... (Your letter) of the 3 d (sic) November last 
relating to Applications that have been made to you 



In Colonial Days. 243 

for Grants of Land lying on the Western side of the 
Great Mountains. . . . We have read. . . . and trans- 
mitted a Copy thereof to the Duke of New Castle, 
in order to be laid before His Majesty. In the mean- 
time as His Majesty's Governor of Virginia is em- 
powered by a Clause in his Commission to make 
Grants of Land to any Person or Persons provided 
that he take Care of the Reservation of the Quit 
Rents and for settling & cultivating the land agree- 
able to the several laws relating thereto, We desire 
you will acquaint us, as soon as possible, what Diffi- 
culties you are under with Respect to making such 
Grants as you mention, or what further Power may 
be necessary for that Purpose together with an 
account on what Termes the Grants are desired and 
of the Nature & Situation of the Lands. . . . 

5. Sir W m Gooch, Governor of Virginia, to the 
Lords of Trade, June 16, 1748 B T. V a , Vol. 20 

.... Your Lordships desire to know, what diffi- 
culties I was under about granting lands beyond 
the great Mountains. As these lands lye upon some 
of the chief Branches of the River Mississippi, I was 
apprehensive such Grants might possibly give some 
Umbrage to the French, especially when we were in 
hopes of entering into a Treaty for establishing a 
general Peace. This, my Lords, was the only objec- 
tion I had and which made the Council and me think 
it advisable to wait for his Majesty's Pleasure and 
directions 

In respect to the terms, upon which the Grants are 



244 The Ohio Valley 

desired, the Petitioners pray that four years time 
may be allow'd them to survey and pay rights for 
the lands upon return of the plans to the Secretary's 
office, which is an indulgence that has been often 
given to the Grantees of lands lying in very remote 
parts of the Government, when the Grant is for a 
large number of acres, as this is, no less than Two 
hundred thousand acres being petition'd for, for it will 
require a considerable time to seat it, which they 
expect to do with Strangers and to build a Fort, 
without which or some such work for their defence, 
it would be dangerous for them to venture out so 
far 

6. Report of the Lords of Trade to the Privy 
Council, Septbr 2, 1748, B T. V a 38 p. 411 

Pursuant to your Lordships Order of the 23 d of 
February 1 747, referring to us an extract of a letter 
from Sir William Gooch, Bar 1 , Lieutenant Governor 
of His Majesty's Colony of Virginia, dated the 6 th of 
November 1747, "setting forth, that an application 
" had been made to him by persons in Partnership 
" for Grants of lands lying on the Western side of 
" the Great Mountains, but that he did not think 
" proper to comply therewith, until he had received 
" His Majesty's orders thereupon " & directing us to 
consider, whether it may be for his Majesty's service 
and the advantage of the said Colony to impower 
the said Lieut. Governor to make Grants of Lands 
to Persons in Partnership on the Western side of 
the Great Mountains as desired, We take leave to 



In Colonial Days. 245 

report to your Lordships, that since our former rep- 
resentation in our Letter to his Grace the Duke of 
New Castle, dated the 19 th of January 1747, We have 
received a letter from Sir William Gooch, His Maj- 
esty's said Lieutenant Governor, dated the 16 th of 
June last in Answer to Our Letter to him mentioned 
in the said Representation wherein he acquaints us 
" That with respect to the Difficulties he was under 
" about granting lands beyond the Great Mountains, 
" as these Lands lye upon some of the chief Branches 
" of the Mississippi, he was apprehensive such Grants 
" might possibly give some umbrage to the French, 
" especially when we were in hopes of entering into 
" a Treaty for establishing a general Peace, which 
" was the only objection he had and made him and 
" the Council think it advisable to wait for his Maj- 
" esty's Pleasure and Directions, That in respect to 
" the Terms etc,* Whereupon We further take leave 
to represent to your Lordships 

That the settlement of the Country lying to the 
Westward of the Great Mountains is the Colony of 
Virginia, which is the Center of all His Majesty's 
Provinces, will be for His Majesty's interest and ad- 
vantage, and security of that and the Neighbouring 
Provinces, in as much as His Majesty's subjects will 
be thereby enabled to Cultivate a friendship and carry 
on a more extensive Commerce with the Nations of 
Indians inhabiting those parts and such settlement 
may likewise be a proper step towards disappointing 

* Verbatim repeated from the previous letter. 



246 The Ohio Valley 

the views and checking the Encroachments of the 
French by interrupting part of the Communication 
from their Lodgements upon the great Lakes to the 
River Mississippi, by means of which Communica- 
tion His Majesty's Plantations there are exposed to 
their Incursions and those of the Indian Nations in 
their interest. We cannot therefore but be of Opinion 
that all due Encouragement ought to be given to the 
extending the British settlements beyond the great 
Mountains and submit to your Lordships, whether it 
may not be adviseable to impower the said Lieut. 
Governor to make grants of Lands there to persons 
in Partnership as desired. 

As the Persons applying for the said Lands pro- 
pose to settle the same with strangers and to build a 
Fort at their own expense, that is a further reason 
with us to think they may deserve his Majesty's 
Countenance & Encouragement, and the rather be- 
cause their example may induce the neighbouring 
Colonies likewise to turn their thoughts towards de- 
signs of the same nature. 

We are further of Opinion, that it may be for His 
Majesty's Service, that four years be allowed them 
to survey & Pay rights for the Lands upon return of 
the Plans to the Secretary's office, which indulgence 
has been given even for a longer term to Grantees of 
Lands lying in remote parts of the same Govern- 
ment, when the Grant has been for a larg-e Number 
of Acres, as this is, especially as there is just ground 
to expect that His Majesty's revenue will, at the expi- 



In Colonial Days. 247 

ration of the Term proposed be considerably increased 
and a Barrier formed to that and the neighbouring 
plantations by means of such settlement, which can- 
not be supported without some advantages at the 
first establishing of it, but lest such or any other ad- 
vantage, which may be thought Proper to be given 
as an encouragement to this undertaking should 
tempt Persons already settled in other Parts of the 
Colony upon Lands, for which the usual Quit rent is 
paid, to desert their former settlements and seat 
themselves upon these lands, we would further sub- 
mit to your Lordships, whether it may not be advise- 
able, that it should be a condition of the Grants to 
be made by the said Lieutenant Governor, that no 
person already possess'd of Lands in any other part 
of Virginia held by Quitrent from the Crown be 
admitted to take up or settle upon any of the Lands 
to be granted to the said Petitioners without giving 
security for continuing the Payment of the Quit 
rents for the Lands by him already possess'd notwith- 
standing his removal. 

And as it is not likely that any number of inhab- 
itants will be induced to settle beyond these Moun- 
tains, unless they are sure of protection there We 
would further submit to your Lordships, whether the 
Building a Fort and placing a sufficient Garrison 
therein at the expense of the Grantees, should not 
be another condition of the said Grants. 

These Regulations if they meet with the Appro- 
bation of your Lordships, together with any others, 



248 The Ohio Valley 

which shall be thought proper to be inserted in the 
Grants of the Lands petitioned for, may be made by 
Instructions to the said Lieut. Governor of Virginia. 

7. Order of the Committee of Council on the pre- 
ceding Report, Novbr 24, 1748, B. T. V a . Vol 20 

The Lords of the Committee this day took into 
their consideration a Report of the Lords Commis- 
sioners for Trade and Plantations, dated the 2 d of 
September last relating to the making Grants of 
Lands on the western side of the great Mountains 
in Virginia, to persons in Partnership, And do agree 
in opinion with the said Lords Commissioners, that 
the settlement of the aforementioned part of Vir- 
ginia will be for His Majesty's interest and the ad- 
vantage and security of that and the neighbouring 
Provinces, and that therefore it may be advisable for 
His Majesty to impower the Governor or Lieuten- 
ant Governor of that Province to make the Grants 
desired, under the Conditions and regulations pro- 
posed in the Report of the said Lords Commissioners 
and to that end, 

It is hereby ordered, that the said Lords Commis- 
sioners do prepare a Draught of Instructions for the 
Gov r or Lieutenant Governor of the said Colony of 
Virginia accordingly and that in case any thing fur- 
ther shall occur to them as proper and necessary to be 
inserted therein, that they do add the same to the 
said Draught of Instructions and lay the same before 
this Committee for their consideration. 

8 Order of the Committee of Council, referring 



/;/ Colonial Days. 249 

to the Lords of Trade the petition of John Hanbury 
et. al., incorporators of the Ohio Company, Febr 9, 
1 748-9 B, T. V a . Vol. 20 

Whereas His Majesty was pleased by His Order 
in Council of the 1 I th of last month to referr unto this 
Committee the humble Petition of John Hanbury of 
London Merchant in behalf of himself and of Thomas 
Lee Esq. a Member of His Majesty's Council and one 
of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature in 
His Majesty's Colony of Virginia, Thomas Nelson, 
Esq re , also a Member of His Majesty's Council in Vir- 
ginia, Colonel Cressup, Colonel William Thornton, 
William Nimmo, Daniel Cressup, John Carlisle, Law- 
rence Washington, Augustus Washington, George 
Fairfax, Jacob Gyles, Nathaniel Chapman and James 
Woodrop Esq res , all of His Majesty's Colony of Vir- 
ginia and others their Associates forsettling the Coun- 
trys upon the Ohio and extending the British Trade be- 
yond the Mountains on the Western confines of 
Virginia humbly praying (for the reasons therein con- 
tained), that His Majesty will be graciously pleased to 
encourage their undertaking by giving instructions to 
the Governor of Virginia to grant to them and such 
others as they shall admit as their Associates a Tract 
of 500,000 acres of land betwixt Romanettos and 
Bufallo's Creek on the south side of the River 
Aligane otherwise the Ohio and betwixt the two 
Creeks and the Yellow Creek on the north side of 
the River or in such other parts of the West of the 
said Mountains as shall be adjudged most proper by 
32 



250 The Ohio Valley 

the Petitioners for that purpose and that 200,000 
acres, part of the said 500,000 acres, may be granted 
immediately without rights on condition of the Peti- 
tioners Seating at their proper expense a hundred 
Familys upon the lands in seven years, the lands to 
be granted free of Quit rents for ten years on condi- 
tion of their erecting a Fort and maintaining a Gar- 
rison for protection of the settlement for that time 
the Petitioners paying the usual quitrent at the expi- 
ration of the said ten years from the date of their 
Patent And further praying that the said Governor 
may be further instructed, that as soon as these 
200,000 acres are settled and the Fort erected 300,000 
acres more residue of the said 500000 acres of land 
may be granted to the Petitioners adjoining to the 
said 200000 acres of land so first granted with the 
like exemptions and under the same covenants and 
to give all such further and other encouragements to 
the Petitioners in their so useful and publick an un- 
dertaking as to His Majesty in His great Wisdom 
shall seem meet. — The Lords of the Committee this 
day took the said Petition into their consideration 
and are hereby pleased to referr the same (a Copy 
whereof is hereunto annexed) to the Lords Commis- 
sioners for Trade and Plantations to consider thereof 
and Report their Opinion thereupon to this Commit- 
tee of Mississipi and those of Potomac are only 
separated by one small Ridge of Mountains, easily 
passable by Land Carriage, So that by the Con- 
venience of the Navigation of the Potomac and a 



/// Colonial Days. 251 

short land carriage from thence to the West of the 
Mountains and to the Branch of the Ohio and the 
Lake Erie British Goods may be carried at little 
expense and afforded reasonably to the Indians in 
those parts. In case the lands to the west of the said 
Mountains were settled and a Fort erected in some 
proper place there for the protection and encourage- 
ment of your Petitioners and others your Majesty's 
subjects in adventuring their persons and fortunes in 
this Undertaking In which if your Petitioners meet 
with that success they have the greatest reason to 
expect It will not only be made the best and strong- 
est frontier in America, but will be the means of 
gaining a vast addition and increase to your Majesty's 
Subjects of that rich Branch of the Peltry and Furr 
which your Petitioners propose by means of Settle- 
ment hereinafter mentioned to carry on with the 
Indians to the westward of the said Mountains and 
on the said Lake and Rivers and will at the same 
time greatly promote the Consumption of our own 
British Manufactures, enlarge our Commerce, in- 
crease our Shipping and Navigation and extend your 
Majestys Empire in America and in a short space of 
time very considerably increase your Majesty's Reve- 
nue of Quit rents as there is little room to doubt, 
but that when this (who claim all the lands west of 
Virginia and also to and on the Waters of the Mis- 
sisippi and the Lake by right of Conquest from 
several Nations of Indians, who formerly inhabited 
that Country and have been extirpated by the said 



252 The Ohio Valley 

Six Nations) did yield up and make over and for ever 
quit claim to your Majesty and your successors All 
their said lands west of Virginia with all their right 
thereto so far as your Majesty should at any time 
thereafter be pleased to extend the said Colony. 

That most of the Nations of Indians west of the 
Mountains and upon the Lakes and the River Ohio 
have entered into an Alliance with your Majesty's 
Subjects and with the Six Nations in Friendship with 
the British Colony's and have desired your Majesty's 
Subjects the Inhabitants of Virginia to send them 
British Goods and manufactures as they inclined to 
trade solely with Your Majesty's Subjects. 

That by laying hold of this opportunity and im- 
proving this favourable disposition of these Indians 
they may be forever fixed in the British Interest and 
the prosperity and safety of the British Colonys be 
effectually secured and which your Petitioners are. 
ready and willing to undertake. 

That your Petitioners beg leave humbly to inform 
your Majesty, that the lands to the West of the said 
Mountains are extreemly fertile, the Climate very 
fine and healthy and the waters And whereas there 
was likewise laid before the Lords of the Committee 
a Report made by the Lords Commissioners for 
Trade and Plantations, dated the 13 th of December 
last, together with a Draught of an additional In- 
struction prepared by the said Lords Commissioners 
for Sir William Gooch, His Majesty's Lieutenant 
Governor of the Colony of Virginia, impowering him 



In Colonial Days. 253 

to make Grants of Lands on the western side of the 
great Mountains to persons in Partnership who have 
applied for the same And their Lordships observing 
that the lands, proposed to be granted by the said 
Instruction, are situated in the same place with those 
prayed for by the aforementioned Petition of John 
Hanbury and others and may probably have some 
relation to each other, Do therefore think it proper 
hereby to referr back to the said Lords Commission- 
ers for Trade and Plantations the said Report and 
additional Instruction for their further consideration. 
To the Kings Most Excellent Majesty in Coun- 
cil The humble Petition of John Hanbury 
of London Merchant etc etc (Names as 
above) for settling the Countrys upon the 
Ohio and extending the British Trade be- 
yond the Mountains on the Western con- 
fines of Virginia 
Most humbly Sheweth 
That by the Treaty of Lancaster and also by Deed 
bearing date the 2 d day of July 1744 the Northern 
Indians by the name of the Six Nations Settlement 
is once begun by your Petitioners but that a great 
number of Foreign Protestants will be desirous of 
settling in so Fertile and delightful a Country under 
the just and mild administration of your Majesty's 
Government, especially as they will be at little more 
charge than the transporting themselves from their 
Native Country. 

That your Pet rs for these great and national ends 



254 The Ohio Valley 

and purposes and in order to improve and extend 
the British Trade amongst these Indians, and to set- 
tle these Countrys in so healthy and fine a Climate 
and which are your Majesty's undoubted right have 
entered into Partnership by the name of the Ohio 
Company to settle these Countrys to the West of 
the said Mountains and to carry on a Trade with the 
Indians in those parts and upon the said Lakes and 
Rivers. But as effecting the same and more especially 
the erecting a sufficient Fort and keeping a Garrison 
to protect the Infant Settlement will be attended with 
great Expense 

Your Petitioners who are the first Adventurers in 
this beneficial Undertaking, which will be so advan- 
tageous to the Crown in point of Revenue, to the 
Nation in point of Trade and to the British Colonys 
in point of strength and security, most humbly pray 
that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to en- 
courage this their said Undertaking by giving 
Instructions to your Governor of Virginia to grant 
to your Pet rs and such others as they shall admit as 
their Associates a Tract of Five hundred thousand 
acres of land betwixt Romanettos and Buffalo's Creek 
on the South side of the River Aligane otherwise 
the Ohio and betwixt the two Creeks and the Yellow 
Creek on the North side of the said River or in such 
parts to the West of the said Mountains as shall be 
adjudged most proper by your Petitioners for that 
purpose and that two hundred thousand acres, part 
of the said five hundred thousand may be granted 



In Colonial Days. 255 

immediately without rights on condition of your 
Petitioners seating at their proper expence a hundred 
Familys upon the land in seven years, the lands to 
be granted free of quitrent for ten years on condition 
of their erecting a Fort and maintaining a Garrison 
for protection of the Settlement for that time your 
Pet rs paying the usual quit rent at the expiration of 
the said ten years from the date of their Patent — 
And your Pet rs further pray, that your Majesty will 
be graciously pleased to send your said Governor a 
further Instruction that as soon as these two hundred 
thousand acres are settled and the Fort erected, That 
three hundred thousand acres more residue of the 
said Five hundred thousand acres may be granted to 
your Petitioners adjoining to the said Two hundred 
thousand acres of land so first granted with the like 
exemptions and under the same covenants and to 
give all such further and other encouragements to 
your Petitioners in this their so usefull and publick 
an undertaking as to your Majesty in your great wis- 
dom shall seem meet. 

9. Additional Instructions to Sir William Gooch, 
Lieut-Gov r of Virginia, submitted by the Lords for 
Trade and Plantations to the Committee of Council, 
Decbr 13, 1748. 

Whereas it hath been represented unto Us, that 
application hath been made to you by persons in 
Partnership for a Grant or Grants of two hundred 
thousand acres of land on the western side of the 
Great Mountains within our Colony of Virginia in 



256 The Ohio Valley 

order to settle the same with Strangers — And 
whereas such Settlement will be for our interest and 
the advantage and security of our said Colony as well 
as the neighbouring Colonys inasmuch as Our loving 
Subjects will be thereby enabled to cultivate a Friend- 
ship and carry on a more extensive commerce with 
the Nations of Indians inhabiting those parts and 
such examples may likewise induce the neighbouring 
Colonys to turn their thoughts towards Designs of 
the same nature, It is therefore our will and 
pleasure and you are hereby authorized and required 
to make a' Grant or Grants of Two hundred thousand 
acres of land beyond the great Mountains to the said 
Persons in Partnership, who have applied for the 
same — Provided that you take especial care in making 
such grant or grants for the reservation of our quit 
rents and for settling and cultivating the said lands 
agreeable to such Laws as now are in force in Our 
said Colony for that purpose and conformable to Our 
Instructions to our Governor of the said Colony 
upon that head. 

And whereas it hath been further represented 
unto Us that the said persons in Partnership have 
proposed that four years may be allowed them to 
survey the said lands and pay the usual rights for the 
same upon return of the plans to Our Secretary's 
Office of Our said Colony, which indulgence has 
been represented to us to have been heretofore given 
even for a longer term to Grantees of lands lying in 
remote parts of Our said Colony, when the Grant 



Ill Colonial Days. 257 

has been for a large number of acres as this is, espe- 
cially as there is just ground to expect, that at the 
expiration of the term proposed Our Revenue will 
be increased and a barrier formed to that and Our 
neighbouring Colonys by means of such Settlement, 
Now having considered the said proposal together 
with the Opinion of Our Commissioners for Trade 
and Plantations thereupon We are graciously pleased 
to agree thereto, But lest such indulgence should 
tempt persons already settled in other parts of Our 
Colony upon lands for which the usual quitrent is 
paid to desert their former Settlements and seat 
themselves upon the lands so to be granted, It is our 
further will and pleasure, that it be an express 
condition of the said Grant or Grants, that no person 
already possessed of lands in any other part of Our 
said Colony held of us by quitrent be admitted to 
take up or settle any of the lands to be granted to 
the said persons in Partnership without giving secu- 
rity for continuing the payment of the quit rents for 
the lands by them heretofore possessed, notwith- 
standing their removal. 

And as it is not likely, that any number of Inhab- 
itants will be induced to settle beyond the great 
Mountains, unless they are sure of protection there, 
It is our further will and pleasure, that the 
building a Fort and placing a sufficient Garrison 
therein at the expence of the Grantees be a further 
condition of the said Grant or Grants. 
(This Additional Instruction was somewhat changed 
33 



258 The Ohio Valley 

Febr y 23, 1749 and then sent out to Sir W m Gooch, 
Gov r of Virginia,) 

10. Letter from Col. Thomas Lee, President of the 
Council of Virginia to the Lords of Trade, Oct 18, 
1 749, B T, V a Vol. 20 

.... The Ohio Company, imediately after your 
Lordships letter with His Majesty's additional In- 
structions came to Sir William Gooch, had a meeting, 
and, as Mr. Hanbury will inform your Lordships, 
gave him an order to ship the necessary goods for 
carrying on a trade with the Indians — they than sent 
out into those back parts to discover a proper place 
to settle their factory on and begin their survey, but 
those very Indians that had encouraged them at the 
first, had been persuaded to believe, that our design 
was to ruin, not trade with them and such a spirit of 
jealousy is raised among them y l without a treaty and 
presents we shall not be able to doe any thing with 
them, this was not the case, when the Ohio Company 
petitioned ; the bulk of these Indians are such as 
being ill used by the French removed from the Lakes 
of S l . Lawrence a short time before the end of the 
Warr, in order to join the English in mak g warr 
upon the French and they have been invited ; refuse 
to return and with these are some of the Six Nations, 
these are all friends, but friendship with these people 
must be kept firm by presents, which make way for 
trade. It will therefore I apprehend be necessary 
for this Governm' to treat with them and by presents 
fix them in the English interest. The Pennsylva- 



In Colonial Days. 259 

nians claim as I am told to the 39 th degree, this will 
take from Virginia a considerable quantity of land 
and prevent the Ohio Company setling with any cer- 
tainty, as noe such line has ever been run ; there 
seems to be the same reason for setling the North- 
ern, as there was for settling the Southern bounds of 
Virginia and if your Lordships think soe, the same 
way may be taken by appointing Commissioners. 

The last and great difficulty of that Company will 
be the erecting and garrisoning a Fort, this will be 
such an expence to a private Company, that have noe 
pretence nor desire to an exclusive trade, that it will 
make them much less able to carry on a trade suf? to 
engage the Indians effectually in the Brittish intrest. 
The Indians as far as I have observed seldom or 
never breake their faith, but from mere necessity. If 
they are not supplyed with Guns, Ammunition & 
Cloths, by presents and trade, they must starve, soe 
they are obliged to cultivate a friendship with those 
y l will help them. 

I refer your Lordships to what Mr. Hanbury will 
lay before your Lordships more at large, and we hope 
for your Lordships favourable representations to His 
Majesty in favour of the Ohio Company, whose views 
I am convinced are for the public good, to extend 
His Majesty's Empire in America and by an honest 
trade to strengthen the Brittish Intrest against any 
enemy whatever. 

The French claim to the Missisippi is not just, 
since if your Lordships turn to your books ab l the 



260 The Ohio Valley 

latter end of King Williams reign, it will appear by 
a representation to the King y l that River and farr 
beyond it was granted by King Charles the first to 
S r Robert Heath & setled by the English, long be- 
fore the French had been in them parts, and the 
King's claim is continued by the bounding of the 
Carolines by the South Sea. 

If by these further Indulgences from His Majestye 
the Ohio Company are allowed to carry on their trade 
and make their Settlement, they hope to engage the 
Indians of the several Nations soe effectually in the 
Brittish intrest, y l the encroachments of the French 
will be prevented. * * * 

Very incomplete abstracts of papers relating to the 
Ohio Company, made for me in London : 

Virginia Aug 1 21 st 1 75 1. 
My Lords 

[He transmits a map of Virginia, & information 
showing it to be correct, has referred these matters 
to a gentleman of considerable mathematical & geo- 
graphical knowledge, he sends a book relating to 
Virginia & an account of John P. Salley's travels, 
his own journey to Bath, notwithstanding grants 
made by the Kings of England, France, or Spain, 
the right to uninhabited lands must depend on prior 
occupancy ; letter and instructions reed.; order from 
Lords Justices re Quit-rents ; state of the Indians ;] 
This Fall 1 shall send a Messenger to acquaint them 
[the Indians] that I purpose next May to send Com- 
missioners to meet them at the Place they desire ; 



In Colonial Days. 261 

and at the Conference I shall endeavour to obtain a 
Confirmation of the Grant of the Lands made to 
his Majesty at the Treaty of Lancaster in Order to 
give the Ohio Company an Opportunity of surveying 
the large Tract of Land his Majesty was pleased to 
Grant to them. [Intended remonstrance to the In- 
dians re ill-treating inhabitants [of Virginia]; audience 
with ambassador from the Cherokees ; proceedings of 
Court of Oyer and Terminer ; Land Law passed by 
the General Assembly.] 

I have the Honour to be with the 

greatest Regard and Esteem 

your Lordships most obedient 

and most humble Servant 
[To the Board of Trade] Lewis Burwell 

Some Additions to the Accounts sent from Vir- 
ginia,concerningthe Extent and Limits of that Colony, 
and the Encroachments that have been made upon it. 

[Original grant of Virginia was made to Sir W. 
Raleigh in 1584 ; limits of the province at that time ; 
reversion to the Crown ; grants made in 1606 & 1609 ; 
second reversion to the Crown in 1624, colonies 
which border on Virginia ; Lake Erie suggested as 
boundary between New York & Virginia ; inaccu- 
racy of maps ; district claimed by the French ; prior 
settlement by the English of lands near the Missis- 
sippi ; purchase from native proprietors ; encroach- 
ments on the colony by the French ; uninhabited 
portions ; French maps ; most important place is the 



262 The Ohio Valley 

Fork of the Mississippi ; English settlements.] These 
Settlements | those made by Germans & other for- 
eigners] are Chiefly in the middle and Southern parts 
of Virginia; In the Northern parts they have none 
at all, as far as I am Informed, anywhere beyond the 
Mountains, Notwithstanding the large Grant made 
to the Ohio Company there. But here the Country 
is peopled with Indians upon the River Ohio, and 
some few of our People Chiefly from Pensylvania 
are Settled among them. [Description of the river 
Ohio, its course &c ; claim of Canada to lands near 
Lake Erie ; bounds of Maryland & Penn ia ; fortifica- 
tions &c, of the French ; their tact in dealing with 
the Indians ; loss of Fort Alabama in Carolina ; rice 
& tobacco trade, defenceless state of our colonies ; 
it is necessary — i°. to settle the bounds of the dif- 
ferent colonies] 2 . To make the Ohio Company 
Lay off their large Grant in those parts, and make 
the Settlements agreed upon. Untill that is done, 
no Others can well take a Grant for any Lands there- 
abouts, for fear of being Ejected by that very Exten- 
sive One that was granted before them. 3 . If the 
like Grants of Smaller Tracts of Lands were made 
to Others upon the same Terms with that of the 
Ohio Company, and all who will settle in that Coun- 
try were allowed a grant free from Quick-rents and 
other Charges for a certain Number of Years, to 
Encourage and Enable them to make Settlements in 
such remote and distant parts, it is the Opinion of 
those that are best Acquainted with it, that the Coun- 



In Colonial Days. 263 

try on & about the River Ohio would soon be peopled 
and Secured. [Limits suggested for free grants, 4 . 
proposition to establish a trading factory among the 
Indians; advisability of the northern colonies uniting 
to oppose the influence of the French.] 
[Rec d . Apr: 14 1752] 

Williamsburg May 2 2 fl . 1753 
Sr 

[Letter rec d .; complaints of the Indian traders; 
French designs to settle the Ohio will, if permitted, 
ruin the trade with the Indians ; express sent to make 
peace between the Creeks & Cherokees ; cruel treat- 
ment of the loyal Cherokees by the Mohawks ; ap- 
plication to the governor of Canada necessary ; 
jealousy of the traders from different colonies is very 
prejudicial to the British interest.] I have often 
mention'd to the Ohio Comp a : Y r Proprietors Incli- 
nations to support their settling the Lands granted 
them by His Majesty, for which they seem'd to be 
very well pleas'd. [He is anxious to hear the result 
of the Assembly's consideration on present affairs.] 
Believe me to be with all imaginable regard & Esteem 
Sr 
Y r most hble Serv\ 

Robt Dinwiddie* 
Hon ble : James Hamilton Esq r 

Williamsburg Virginia Jan v 29 th 1754 
Right Hon b,e : 

[Return of M r Washington; enclosures; ill-treat 

* Not in Dinwiddie Papers. 



264 The Ohio Valley 



, der. 



ment of British subjects by the French comnV 
forts and forces of the French; right of the English 
kino- to lands claimed by the French; Treaty of Lan- 
caster; presents to the Indians.] 

Under the certain right of the Crown of Great 
Brit n His Majesty was pleas'd to grant to some of his 
Subjects, five hundred Thousand Acres of Land on 
the Waters of the Ohio, under the Name of the 
Ohio Company. This Company, & their Grant, is 
well known to the Governor of Canada, & that they 
have, at great Expence begun their Settlement, 
agreeable to their Grant, but some of their People 
are return'd, being seiz'd with a Panick on the Threats 
of the French, & their seizing all they can by their 
Hands on belonging to the British Subjects, & it's 
further surmiz'd that they spirit up the Indians in 
their Interest, to way lay them, & Murder them. — 
Some of our Subjects in the Frontiers of this Do- 
minion, have lately been barbarously Murder'd & 
Scalp'd, & said to be done by the French Indians. 

[Militia to be sent to the Ohio; House of Burgesses; 
bad state of troops; stores received from the Board 
of Ordnance; requests smaller guns.] 

I remain with great Deference & Dutiful respect 
Right Hon ble : 

Your Lordships much Oblig'd 
& most Obed* hble Serv 1 . 

Rod 1 . Dinwiddie* 

R l Hon. Lords for Trade &c a . 

* Not in Dinwiddie Papers. 



In Colonial Days. 265 

At the Council Chamber Whitehall 
the 2 d day of April 1754 
By the Right Honourable the Lords of the 
Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs 
His Majesty having been pleased, by His Order 
in Council of the 28 th of last Month, to referr unto 
this Committee the humble petition of the Ohio 
Company, praying, that upon Condition the Petition- 
ers enlarge their Settlements and Seat three hundred 
Familys instead of One hundred by their former Con- 
tract, and in Consideration of their erecting two 
Forts, One at Shurtees Creek, and the other at the 
Fork where the great Conaway enters the Ohio, and 
maintain them at their own Expence, That His Maj- 
esty will be greatly pleased to enlarge their Grant 
under the same Exemption of Rights and Quit Rents 
as in the former Instructions, and to fix the Bounds 
without any further delay of Survey, from Romanet- 
toe or Kiskominettoe Creek on the South East Side 
of the Ohio to the Fork at the entrance of the great 
Conhaway River, and from thence along the North 
Side of the said Conhaway River to the Entrance of 
Green Brier River, and from thence in a Streight 
Line or Lines to and along the Mountains to the 
South East Spring of Mohongaly River, and from 
thence Northwards along the Mountains to the North 
East Springs of Romanettoe or Kiskominettoe Creek 
or till a West Line from the Mountains intersects 
the said Spring and along it to its Entrance into the 
Ohio, which will prevent all Disputes or Delay about 

34 



266 The Ohio Valley 

the Limits, which are necessary to be immediately 
determined, as the Season is advancing to procure 
Foreign Protestants and others of His Majestys Sub- 
jects to go on with the Settlement, and to procure 
Materials to erect their Second Fort at the Mouth 
of the great Conhaway River (the Fort on Shurtees 
Creek being now building to prevent the Intrusion 
and Incroachments of the Indians in the French 
Alliance and secure Our Settlements upon the Ohio, 
which if not immediately put in Execution before 
they get possession, may be highly detrimental to the 
Colonys, and occasion a great future Expence to 
Britain — The Lords of the Committee this day took 
the said Petition into their Consideration, and are 
hereby pleased to referr the same (a Copy whereof 
is hereunto annexed) to the Lords Commissioners 
for Trade and Plantations, to consider thereof, and 
Report their Opinion thereupon to this Committee — 

W. Sharpe 

To the Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council 
The humble Petition of the Ohio Company 
Sheweth 

That Your Pet rs upon Information given by sev 1 
Nations of Indians residing near the Ohio and other 
Branches of the Missisippi & near the Lakes West- 
ward of Virginia that they were desirous of Trading 
with Your Majestys Subjects and quitting the French, 
And knowing the value of those rich Countrys which 
were given up and acknowledged to be Your Majes- 



In Colonial Days. 267 

tys undoubted right by the Six Nations who are law- 
full Lords of all those Lands by Conquest from 
other Indian Nations at the Treaty of Lancaster the 
2 d day of July 1744 Your Pet rs being sensible of the 
vast Consequence of securing these Countrys from 
the French did in the Year 1748 form themselves 
into a Company to Trade with the Indians and to 
make Settlements upon the Ohio or Allegany River 
by the Name of the Ohio Company — 

That the Company in the beginning of the Year 
1749 Petitioned Your Majesty wherein they set forth 
the vast Advantage it would be to Britain and the 
Colonys to anticipate the French by taking possession 
of that Country Southward of the Lakes to which 
the French had no right nor had then taken any pos- 
session except a small Blockhouse fort among the 
Six Nations below the falls of Niagara they having 
deserted Le Detroit Fort Northward of Erie Lake 
during the War and retired to Cannada ; The reasons 
for Securing the same being mentioned at large in 
their said former petition and in which they prayed 
that Your Majesty wou'd give Orders or Instructions 
to Your Gov r of Virginia to make out to Your Pet rs . 
five hundred Thousand Acres betwixt Romanetto 
and Buffaloe Creeks on the South Side of the Alle 
gany or Ohio River and between the two Creeks and 
Yellow Creek on the North Side of that River upon 
the Terms and with the Allowances therein mentioned 
to which they beg leave to referr — 

That Your Pet rs in pursuance of the s d petition 



268 The Ohio Valley 

obtained an Order from Your Majesty to your Lieu 1 
Gov r of Virginia dated March 18 th 1748-9 to make 
them a Grant or Grants of 200,000 Acres of Land 
between Romanettoe and Buffalo Creeks on the South 
Side of the Ohio and betwixt the two Creeks and 
Yellow Creek on the North Side thereof or in such 
part to the Westward of the great Mountains as the 
Company shou'd think proper for making Settle- 
ments and extending their Trade with the Indians 
with a Proviso that if they did not erect a Fort on 
the s d Land & maintain a sufficient Garrison therein 
& seat at their proper expence a hundred Familys 
thereon in Seven Years the s d Grants should be void 
And as soon as these terms were accomplished he 
was ordered to make out a further Grant or Grants 
of 300,000 Acres under the like Conditions Restric- 
tions and Allowances as the first 200,000 Acres ad- 
joining thereto & within these Limits These Orders 
were delivered to the Honoble W m . Nelson on the 
12 th of July following 1749 and upon producing them 
before the Gov r & Council they made an Entry in 
the Council Books that the Company should have 
leave given to them to take up and Survey 200,000 
Acres within the places mentioned in Your Majestys 
said Instructions and Orders 

That Your Pet rs upon this Entry in the Council 
Books sent to Great Britain for a Cargoe of Goods 
to begin their Trade & purchased Lands upon the 
Potomack River being the most convenient place to 
erect storehouses ; and in Sept r following 1 749 em- 



In Colonial Days. 269 

ployed Gentlemen to discover the Lands beyond the 
Mountains to know where they shou'd make their 
Surveys But they not having made any considerable 
progress the Company in Sept r 1 750 agreed to give 
M r Christopher Gist ,£150 certain and such further 
handsome Allowance as his Service should deserve for 
searching & discovering the Lands upon the Ohio 
and its sev 1 Branches as low as the falls on the Ohio 
with proper Instructions He accordingly set out in 
Oct r . 1750 & did not return 'till May 1751 after a 
Tour of 1200 Miles in which he visited many Indian 
Towns and found them all desirous of entering into 
strict Friendship & Trade with Your Majestys Sub- 
jects. 

That Your Pet rs at their general Meeting in May 
1 75 1 judging it necessary for their Trade and passage 
to the Ohio to have a Grant of some Lands belong- 
ing to Maryland and Pensilvania wrote to M r Hanbury 
to apply for the same to the proprietors & laid out & 
opened a Waggon Road Sixty feet wide from their 
Storehouse at Wills's Creek to the three Branches 
on Yauyaugain River computed to be near eighty 
Miles And applied to the president and Masters of 
William and Mary College for a Commission to a 
Surveyor to lay out the Lands as they pretend they 
had a Right so to do proposing to begin the Survey 
after receiving M r Gist's Report — 

Your Pet rs finding by s d Gists Journal that he had 
only observed the Lands on the North Side of the 
Ohio and finding that the Indians were unwilling that 



270 The Ohio Valley 

they should then Settle on the Miamees River or on 
the North Side of the Ohio & the Lands lying too 
much exposed & at too great a distance as may ap- 
pear by the Chart hereunto annexed to which Your 
Pet rs beg leave to referr ; They employed the s d Gist 
to go out a Second time to view and examine the 
Lands between Mohongaly and the Big Conhaway 
Woods or New River on the South East Side of the 
Ohio which employed him from 4 th Nov r 1751 to the 
March following 1 752, but he could not finish his plan 
& Report before Oct r 1752 at which time the Com- 
pany gave in a petition to the Governor and Council 
praying leave to Survey and take up their first 
200,000 Acres between Romanettoes otherwise Kis- 
kominettoe's Creek & the Forks of the Ohio and the 
great Conhaway otherwise New River otherwise 
Woods River on the South Side of the Ohio in sev- 
eral Surveys — 

The Gov r & Council having not thought fit to 
comply with the prayer of the s d petition to allow 
Your Pet rs to survey their Lands in different Tracts 
as wou'd best accommodate the Settlers & secure 
their Frontiers from Attacks the President & Masters 
of the College also refusing to give out a Commis- 
sion to a Surveyor & the late Gov r & Council having 
made out large Grants to private persons Landjob- 
bers to the amount of near 1,400,000 Acres imme- 
diately nay even the same day after Your Majestys 
Instructions for making out Your Pet rs Grants & 



In Colonial Days. 271 

Surveys became publickly known where the Lands 
were in properly described or limited nor surveyed ; 
by which means their several Grants might have in- 
terfered with the Lands discovered & chosen by the 
Company Your Pet rs were laid under difficultys in 
surveying and settling their Lands & erecting the 
Fort tho Your Pet" have been at very great expence 
& are willing to be at a much greater to secure those 
valuable Countrys and the Indian Trade — 

That Your Pet rs apprehend from these Obstructions 
and the delay & expence attending Surveys & from the 
Suits that may be commenced upon Account of the 
Grants made out to other persons since the Instruc- 
tions given by Your Majesty to grant toYour Pet rs the 
Lands mentioned in the said Instructions which may 
occasion longer delays The Company may be pre- 
vented from fulfilling their Covenants of settling the 
Lands & compleating their Fort in the time specified 
by the said Contract And as Boundarys to large 
Grants are much more natural and easy to be ascer- 
tained by having Rivers for their Limits & streight 
Lines or Mountains to connect them from River to 
River & at much less expence and delay in fixing 
them — 

Therefore Your Pet rs pray that upon Condition 
Your Pet rs shall enlarge their Settlem ts : & Seat three 
hundred Familys instead of One hundred by their 
former Contract and in Consideration of their erect- 
ing two Forts One at Shurtees Creek and the other 



at : lere g enters the 
:.nd maintain r ::heir c 

grac s :o enlarg 

the sa ghts And 

■ ■ ■- " '■ " - ~ - ? "- 

Bounds withe FS from 

the Sc uth 

st S to the Fork .. -.trance 

of the great Conl tlong 

: ■ " S . - - - . . to 1 

- and from thence in 
a. Straight Line or Lines tc 2nd ale p 
to die Sonl 1st S ig long 

from _ s to the 

stS rings < ::oe orKisk 

: n the Mount ins inter- 

sects tl 3 lg 2nd ale ng it t > nto 

the s or de 

about the are ne ne- 

. :. - : ■ Seas ing tc 

pre: g stants and others :: 

5 S ts t g 1 with the Sett I c tc 

::;..:-:..:.: ./.'- : : Erect their Sr:?::i F:r: ;.: :..t 

Mouth the great ?rt on 

tees C E> : ■■ : :he 

:n and :he 

- ts upon 

the Ohi ch if not irr tion 

be: get :al 



In Colonial Days. 273 

to the Colonys and Occasion a great future expence 
to Britain — 

And Your Pet rs . will ever Pray &c a 

signed Arthur Dobbs 

I. Hanbury 
Samuel Smith 
James Wardrop 
In behalf of Ourselves and the rest of the 
Ohio Company 



APPENDIX E. 



Census of the Cherokees in 1721 

(Letter Book 18 p. 75, Sy. Prop. Gosp. in Foreign Parts) 

South Carolina, Dorchester 
1 April 1723-4. 

A true & Exact account of the Number of Names 
of all the Towns belonging to the Cherrikee Nation 
& the Number of Men Women & Children Inhab- 
iting the same taken Anno 1721. 

No. of 

Towns Towns Names Men 

Kewokee 168 



Eascenica 44 

Oakenni 57 

Timotly 42 

Checlokee 71 

Tockaswoo 50 

Toogellon 70 

35 



Women 


Children 


155 


137 


42 


48 


52 


75 


68 


42 


/i 


77 


60 


60 


66 


68 



274 The Ohio Valley 

No. of 

Towns Towns Names Men 

8 . . . . Changee 80 

9. . . . Eastatoe 150 

10. . . . Echie 55 

11.... Chattoogie 30 

12.... Kittowah 143 

13.... Stickoce 97 

14. . . . Noonnie 61 

15. . . . Suskasetchie 150 

16. . . . Tarrahnie 72 

17. . . . Echotee 59 

18.... Tuckoe 34 

19. . . . Turrurah 60 

20. . . . Wooroughtye 30 

21 ... . Taseetchie 36 

22. . . . Quannisee 2>7 

23 ... . Tookarechga 60 

24. . . . Stickoce 42 

25. . . . Old Eastatoe 40 

26. . . . Mougake 57 

27. . . . Echoce 44 

28. . . , Nookassie 53 

29. . . . Cunnookah 89 

30. . . . Cattojay 48 

31 ... . Elojay ye little 58 

32 ... . Wattogo 64 

33 Torree 59 

34. . . . Cowyce 78 

35 ... . Taskeegee 60 

36. . . . Erawgee 43 



Women 


Children 


60 


60 


I 9 I 


28l 


50 


44 


40 


20 


98 


47 


9O 


95 


56 


60 


I4O 


H5 


I I 


7 


97 


65 


33 


27 


40 


22 


20 


12 


44 


45 


3i 


36 


50 


45 


30 


30 


50 


34 


3i 


42 


30 


36 


50 


39 


59 


54 


5i 


39 


50 


64 


59 


53 


60 


69 


78 


102 


62 


64 


49 


4i 



In Colonial Days. 275 

No. of 

Towns Towns Names Men Women Children 



37 

38 

39 
40 

4i 

42 

43 

44 

45 
46 

47 
48 

49 
5o 
5i 

52 
53 



Tookareegha 77 114 36 

Cheowhee 30 42 42 

Tomotly 124 130 103 

Elojay 5 6 7° 6 5 

Little Terrequo. .. . 50 56 48 

Suoigella 50 65 60 

Little Euphusee ... 70 125 54 

Little Tunnissee 12 30 20 

Great Euphusee ... 70 72 60 

Terrequo 100 125 116 

Tunnissee 160 193 190 

Settequo 77 123 7^ 

Charraway 70 71 35 

Tarrassee 33 38 24 

Sarrawotee 40 55 50 

Taskeegee 70 69 75 

Elojay 3° 39 47 



35 J o: 3595^ 3 2 74 
Total 10379* 



* I am indebted to Chaplain R. R. Hoes, U. S. N., for a copy of this in- 
teresting paper. 



276 The Ohio Valley 

APPENDIX F. 

Letter from Earl of Dunmore, Governor of New 
York to Earl of Hillsborough, Secretary of State, 
Novbr 12 th , 1770 

(N. Y. Col. Documents VIII 253). 

.... I have made it my business to enquire and 
find out the opinion of the people here, on the scheme 
in agitation of establishing a Colony on the Ohio ; I 
find, all who have any knowledge of such affairs con- 
cur in condemning the project ; they alledge among 
a variety of reasons, that a Colony, at such an im- 
mense distance from the settled parts of America 
and from the Ocean, can neither benefit either those 
settled parts or the mother Country ; that they must 
immediately become a lost people to both & all com- 
munication of a commercial nature with them be a 
vain attempt, from the difficulty and expence attend- 
ing the Transport of commodities to them, which 
would so enhance the price thereof, as to make it 
utterly impossible for them to purchase such com- 
modities, for they could not raise a produce of any 
kind, that would answer so difficult and expensive 
transport back ; such Colony must therefore be their 
own Manufacturers ; and the great expence of main- 
taining Troops there for their protection be a dead 
weight on Govern 1 , without the hopes of reaping any 
advantage hereafter. The scheme alarms extremely 
all the settled parts of America, the people of prop- 



In Colonial Days. 277 

erty being justly apprehensive of consequences that 
must inevitably ensue ; that such a Colony will only 
become a drain to them (now but thinly peopled) of 
an infinite number of the lower Class of inhabitants, 
who the desire of novelty alone will induce to change 
their situation ; and the withdrawing of those Inhab- 
itants will reduce the value of Lands in the provinces 
even to nothing and make it impossible for the Pat- 
entees to pay the Quit-Rents ; by which, it is evident, 
His Maj tys interest must be very much prejudiced. 
Add to this the great probability, I may venture to 
say (with) certainty, that the attempting a settlement 
on the Ohio will draw on an Indian war ; it being 
well known, how ill affected the Ohio Indians have 
always been to our interest, and their jealousy of 
such a settlement, so near them, must be easily fore- 
seen ; therefore, as such a war would affect at least, 
the nearest provinces, as well as the new Colony, 
Your Lord p must expect those provinces will not fail 
to make heavy complaints of the inattention of 
Govern 1 to their interest. I cannot therefore, but 
think it my duty to recommend to your Lord 1 ' not to 
suffer this scheme to have effect, at least until your 
Lord p shall have, from the most substantial and clear 
proofs, been made thoroughly sensible of its utility. — 

Report of Lord Hillsborough, President of the 
Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations, on 
the petition of Thomas Walpole, in 1772 (Sparks' 
Franklin IV 303 et scq.~) 

We take leave to remind your Lordships of that 



278 The Ohio Valley 

principle which was adopted by this Board and ap- 
proved and confirmed by his Majesty, immediately 
after the Treaty of Paris, viz : the confining the 
western extent of settlements to such a distance from 
the seashore, as that those settlements should lie 
within reach of the trade and commerce of this king- 
dom .... and also of the exercise of that authority 
and jurisdiction which was conceived to be necessary 
for the preservation of the Colonies in a due subor- 
dination to, and dependence upon, the mother coun- 
try. And these we apprehend to have been the two 
capital objects of his Majesty's proclamation of the 
7 th . of October 1763, .... The great object of colo- 
nizing upon the continent of North America has been 
to improve and extend the commerce, navigation and 
manufactures of the kingdom. ... It does appear to 
us, that the extension of the fur trade depends en- 
tirely upon the Indians being undisturbed in the 
possession of their hunting grounds, and that all 
colonizing does in its nature, and must in its conse- 
quences operate to the prejudice of that branch of 

commerce Let the savages enjoy their deserts 

in quiet, Were they driven from their forests the 
peltry trade would decrease; and it is not impossible, 
that worse savages would take refuge in them. 



In Colonial Days. 279 



APPENDIX G. 

Letter from Sir W m . Johnson to the Lords of 
Trade and Plantations, dated Albany Septbr 28, 1 757. 

(SirW. Johnson Papers, IV, 155.) 

The Indians are disgusted and dissatisfied with the 
extensive Purchases of land (made by Penn a & other 
Gov ts ) and do think themselves injured thereby — 
This is one main cause of their defection from the 
British interest — This disgust and its consequential 
jealousies have been some of the chief means, made 
use of by the French, to alienate the Indians from 
his Majesty's interest & provoke them to commit 
hostilities upon our Frontiers and until some meas- 
ures can be put into execution to make the Indians 
easy & remove the jealousies, tho' by temporary 
expedients, they may be kept from breaking out into 
open violence ; yet they will work like a slow, but 
certain poison. By presents and management we 
may be able to keep some little Indian interest yet 
alive and perhaps some Nations to act a neutral part, 
yet I am apprehensive meer Expense, Speeches & 
Promises (so often repeated & so little regarded) 
will never be able to effect a favorable revolution of 
our Indian interest & deprive the French of the great 
advantage they have over us by their Indian Alli- 
ances. 

I would not be understood, my Lords, to mean, 
that there is no alternative, by which we may pos- 



280 The Ohio Valley in Colonial Days. 

sibly avail ourselves, so as to keep an even hand with 
the Indians ; reducing the French to our terms would 
enable us to give Law to the Indians. Forts & 
Levies on our Frontiers, if carried on with an unani- 
mous, vigorous & proper exertion of the strength of 
the several Gov ts , if it did not overawe the Indians 
from attempting any hostilities, might prevent their 
effecting any 



INDEX. 



Abercrombie, Gen., 158. 
Albany Congress, 1 1 7, 1 76. 
Alleghany Co., Pa., 187. 
A llegheny Mis. , 115, 127 

el sea., 141, 166, 176, 197. 
Allouez, Father, S. J., 51. 

Allison, , 169. 

Amherst, Sir Jeffrey, 158, 

169, T70. 
Apalachia, Appalachean 

Mis., 23, 236. 
Atkins, Edmund, 47, 147. 
Attakullakulla, Chief of 

Cherokees, 114. 
Aubry, Captain, 163. 
A agiisla, Kenl y , 195. 
Augusta Co., Pa., 116, 1 28. 



Baker, Lieut, 149. 
Baldwin, C. C, 30. 
Banyar, Goldsborow, 143. 
Batts, Thomas, 220, 229. 
Bean, John, 214. 
36 



Beauharnois, Gov. of 
Canada, 44 el sea., 53, 
80. 

Belcher, Gov. of New Jer- 
sey, 102, 145. 

Bellomont, Gov. of New 
York, 70. 

Berkley, Sir Wm., Gov. 
of Virginia, 227. 

Beverly, Robert, 230. 

Bezon, Sieur, 75. 

Bior Kettle, Indian Chief, 

I 12. 

Bledsoe, Isaac, 193. 

Bleeker, John, 57. 

Blount, Gov of S. W. Ter- 
ritory, 205. 

Boiling Spring, Ky., 206. 

Books, consulted and re- 
ferred to: 
American Antiquarian, 

30, 5i- 
American Gazetteer, 

16^. 



Index 



Books: 

American State Papers, 
204. 

Bancroft, History, 180. 

Bigelow, Franklin, 174. 

Bogart, Boone, 190. 

Bouquet's Expedition, 
172. 

Bruyas, Indian Diction- 
ary, 11, 13. 

Burke, European Settle- 
ments, 61. 

Call, Virginia Reports, 
90. 

Charlevoix, Histoire, 
5i>90. 

Colden, Five Nations, 
40. 

Colden, Memoir on Fur 
Trade, yS. 

Coxe, Description of 
Carolina, 9, 210, 236. 

Coxe, Memoirs of Sir 
Robt. Walpole, 87. 

Craig, Olden Times, 
100. 

Creuxius, Historia Can- 
adensis, 32. 

Dinwiddie Papers, 89, 
94 et seq., 102 et seq., 
1 10 et seq., 118, 121 
et seq., 127 et seq., 136 
et seq., 148, 154, 263. 

Documents relating to 
Colonial History of 



N.Y. (N. Y. Colonial 
History), 34 et seq., 

44. 45- 50 ct se ?» 6 3 
et seq., 67 et seq., 71 ct 

seq., 78 et seq., 84 et 

seq., 91, 93, 95, 117, 

127, 145, 147, 152, 

156, 157, 159, 161 et 

seq., 169 et seq., 1 72, 

1 74 et seq., 1 78 et seq., 

198, 208, 276. 

Gallatin, Synopsis, 30, 

Garcilassa de la Vega, 
Incas, 38, 207. 

Hakluyt, Principal Nav- 
igations, 60, 207. 

Harrison, Aborigines, 

54- 
Hawks, North Carolina, 

38. 

Haywood, Tennessee, 
211, 213^ 

Hening, Virginia Stat- 
utes, 203. 

Hewitt, South Carolina, 
21 1. 

Iredell, Laws of North 
Carolina, 203. 

Jesuit Relations, of 
1618, 2>y, of 1635, 66; 
of 1654, 34; of 1661, 
218. 

Johns Hopkins Univer- 
sity Studies, 203. 



Index. 



283 



Books: 

Kirke, Rearguard, 189. 

de Laet, Novum Bel- 
gium, 2,7- 

Lederer, Travels, 38. 

Lodge, English Colo- 
nies, 186. 

London Magazine, 173. 

Marshall, Kentucky, 
188, 194 et seg., 207. 

Monette, Louisiana, 
180. 

Moorehead, First Set- 
tlement of Kentucky, 
188, 202. 

Morden, Geography, 22. 

New Jersey Archives, 
102, 104. 

Parkman, Discovery of 
the Great West, 34, 
61. 

Parkman, Conspiracy of 
Pontiac, 39, 50, 53, 
165, 167,171. 

Pennsylvania Archives, 
86, 131, 156, 162, 168. 

Pennsylvania Gazette, 
169. 

Pennsylvania Magazine 
of History, 86. 

Pennsylvania Records, 
131, 168. 

Post, Journal, 160. 

Ramsey, Annals of Ten- 
nessee, 207, 208. 



Books: 

Salmon, Gazetteer, 25. 
Schoolcraft, Oneota, 

53- 

Smyth, Travels, 204. 

Sparks, Franklin, 177, 
277. 

Spotswood Letters, 74. 

Stoddard, Louisiana, 
178. 

Voyage au Kentoukey, 
180. 

Winsor, Narr. and Crit- 
ical History, 19, 174, 
184. 
Boone, Daniel, 138, 188 et 

seg., 191 et seq. y 193, 200, 

206, 213. 
Boone, Squire, 191. 
Booncsborough, Ky., 206. 
Botetourt Co., Va., 195. 
Bouquet, Henry, Colonel, 

1 70, 21 2. 
Bourbon Co., Ky., 201. 
Bracken Co., Ky., 195. 
Braddock, General, 121, 

124 et seg., 147, 151, 

166. 
Bradstreet, Broadstreet, 

Colonel, 127, 159, 178 

et seg. 
Brooke Co., Va., 88. 
Brown, Jacob, 214. 
Brule, Etienne, 12. 
Bullitt, Thomas, 194. 



284 



Index. 



Bullock, Leonard Henley, 

202. 
Burnet, Gov. of- New 

York, 36, 79. 
Burwell, Lewis, 261. 
Byrd, Colonel, 212, 228. 
Byrd, William, 139. 



Cabot, Jean, 60. 
Cabot, Sebastien, 60, 61. 
Cairo, Illinois, 180. 
Cameron, Alexander, 214. 
Cape Breton, 10. 
Carlisle, John, 249. 
Carlisle, Penna., 150. 
Carolana, Province of, 9, 

236. 
Catarakoui, 63. 
Chapman, Nathl., 249. 
Charleville, M., 208. 
Chillicothe, Ohio, 183. 
CJwuegen {Oswego, N.Y.), 

91. 
Claese, Lawrence, 57. 
Clapham, Colonel, 169. 
Clark, George, 195. 
Clark Co., Ky., 190. 
Clarke, Lt.-Gov. of N. Y., 

80. 
Claus, Daniel, Lieut, 141. 
Clayton, Mr., 220, 224, 

237- 
Cleveland, Ohio, 40. 

Clinton, De Witt, 10. 



Clinton, Colonial Gover- 
nor of N. Y., 92 et sea., 
186. 

Cocquard, Rev. Claude 
Godefroy, 152. 

Colden, Cadwallader, 78. 

Columbiana Co., Ohio, 88. 

Connolly, John, 183. 

Cool, Wm., 190. 

Cresap, Michael, 97, 103, 
187. 

Cressup, Colonel, 249. 

Cressup, Daniel, 249. 

Croghan, George, 54, 94, 
157, 176, 177, 179, 180. 

Crown Point, N. Y, 125. 

Crystal Mountain, 10. 

Cumberland Gap, 138. 

Cumming, Sir Alex'r, 210. 

Cuyler, Lieut., 167. 



Dagworthy, Capt. John, 

l 50, 151. 
d'Arnouville, J. B. Ma- 

chault, 152. 
Dartmouth, Earl of, 181. 
de Beaujeu, M., 132. 
de Biedma, L. H., 9. 
de Bussy, M., 28. 
de Celvron, Bienville, 85, 

94.^95- 
de Contrecoeur, Pierre 
Claude Pecaudy, 106, 

I3 1 - 



Index. 



285 



de Courcelles, Gov. of 

Canada, 62. 
de Crozat, M., 207. 
de Denonville, Gov. of 

Canada, 65. 
Dekanisore, Sachem of 

the Onondagas, 57. 
de la Barre, Gov. of Can- 
ada, 68. 
de la Gallissoniere,Gov. of 

Canada, 85, 91. 
de Lancey, Lt.-Gov. of N. 

Y., 117, 122, 134. 
de Ligneris, Capt. Mar- 

chaud, 132, 159, 161 et 

seq. 
Demire, Captain, 129. 
de Muy, M., 153. 
Denny, Gov. of Penna., 

156, 160, 162. 
de St. Pierre, Le Gardeur, 

168. 
de Soto, Ferdinand, 9, 207, 

237- 

Detroit, Mich., 35, 45, 57, 
153, 167, 176, 179, 187. 

de Vaudreuil, Gov. of Can- 
ada, 145, 152, 159, 161. 

de Ville, Louis Marie, 
missionary, 75. 

de Villiers, Chevalier, 146. 

de Vincenne, Sieur, 75. 

Dieskau, General, 125. 

Dinwiddie, Gov. of Virg a , 
95, 96, 97, 99 et seq., 1 1 2 



et seq., 117 et seq., 1 2 1, 

134, 138, 148, 211, 263 

et seq. 
Dobbs, Arthur, 273. 
Dobbs, Gov. of North 

Carolina, 120, 212. 
Dollier de Casson, mis- 
sionary, 13, 14, 62, 217. 
Dongan, Gov. of N. Y., 

66 et seq. 
Doreil, M., 159. 
Douglas, James, 194. 
Duchesneau, Intendant of 

Canada, 65. 
Dumas, Captain, 132, 146. 
Dunbar, Colonel, 125, 129, 

134, 136 et seq. 
Dunmore, Lord, Gov. of 

N.Y., 183, 196, 198, 276; 

of Virginia, 183, 1^6, 

198. 

Ecuyer, Captain, 169. 
Elbert Co., Georgia, 205. 
Erie, Penna., 84. 
Estill Co., Ky., 190. 

Fairfax, George, 249. 
Fallam, Robert, 220, 229. 
Filson, John, 190. 
Fincastle Co., Va., 195. 
Findlay (Finley), John, 

187, 190. 
Fletcher, Gov. of N. Y., 

41 et seq. 



286 



Index. 



Floyd, John, 195. 
Foley, James, 1 10. 
Forts and settlements: 
at the mouth of the 

Ohio, 25, 26. 
du Ouesne, 27, 39, 143, 
145 et seq., 149, 153, 
158, 159, 160, 162, 
194, 235, 237, 239. 
St. Joseph, 45, 167. 
St. Louis, 39. 
Wawiaghta, 55. 

English: 
at Allegany, 104. 
on the Attique River, 

163. 
Fort Augusta, 169. 
Fort Bedford, 160. 
at Cajonhage, proposed, 

69. 
on theCheninque River, 

27. 
at Chenussio, 156. 
on the Cherakee River, 

25- 
Fort Chissel, 212. 

at Chotte, 140. 

Fort Cumberland, 150 

et seq., 154, 156. 

at Detroit, proposed, 70. 

Easton, Penna., 157. 

on Elk Creek, 163. 

Freydeck, 28. 

Glendenning's, 171. 



Forts and settlements: 
on the Great Conaway, 

265. 
on the Great Miami, 

28. 
on Holston River, 212. 
Kuskuskies, 28. 
Fort Ligonier, 163, 170, 

182. ' 
Fort Loudon, 149, 151, 

1 64, 211 et seq. 
Loyalhannon, 163. 
Monongahela, 106, 109. 
Oswego, 69, 71, 80. 
on the Ouabache and 

Mississippi, 75. 
Owendoes, 27. 
Fort Pitt, 162 et seq., 

168 et seq., 183. 
at Pittsburgh, proposed, 

97- 
Quanese, 20. 
on the Scioto, 27. 
on Shurtees Creek, 265, 

272. 
Tellico, 28. 
Venango, 27, 167, 168, 

170. 
Walker's, 20, 26, 28, 1 70, 

186. 
on the Watauga River, 

202. 
on White Woman's 

Creek, 163. 
on Yadkin River, 189. 



Index. 



287 



Forts and settlements: 
French: 
Fort Anne, 20. 
Fort L'Assomption, 

161, 208. 
Le Baril, 20. 

Le Boeuf, 167, 170. 
Fort Chartres, 178 et 

seq. 
on Cherakee River, 
Fort Crevecoeur, 236. 
at Diontaroga, 96. 
at Detroit, 35. 
Fort des mi Amis, 22. 
Fort de Tret (Detroit), 

35- 
Fort Frontenac, 63, 159, 

161. 
on Green Brier's River, 

116. 
on Holston River, 116. 
Irondequoit, 76, 80. 
Joncaire's, 20. 
at Ka-ke-no-tia-yo-ga, 

96. 
at Logstown, 95. 
near Louisville, Ky., 

in, 146, 155. 
Fort Machault, 152, 

162, 164. 

Fort Massiac, 180. 
Fort Michilimackinack, 

167. 
Fort Niagara, 70, 80, 

159- 



Forts and settlements: 

on the Ohio and Oua- 
bache, 26. 

Ouitanon, 20, 167, 180. 

on the Scioto, proposed, 
1 1 1. 

Tiengsachrondio (De- 
troit), 35. 

Fort Vincene, 20, 180. 

Wawyachtenoch (De- 
troit), 35. 
Forbes, General, 159, 170. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 142, 

177, 197. 
Franklin, Penna., 168. 
Franklin Co., Georgia, 

205. 
Fraser; an English trader, 

168. 
Frederick Co., Maryland, 

128. 
Fremin, Pere, S. J., 14. 
Fremont, General, 50. 
French, marching to the 

Ohio, 92. 
Friedenshttctten, Penna., 

184. 
Frontenac, Gov. of Can- 
ada, 62, 63. 
Fry, Colonel Joshua, 103, 

109. 

Galinee (Gallinay), Rene 
de Brehan de, mission- 
ary, 14, 62, 217. 



288 



Index. 



Gates, Captain, 129. 

Gist, Christ, 233, 269. 

Glen, Gov. of So. Caro- 
lina, 120, 123 ct seq. 

Glendenning, Archibald, 
171. 

Gooch, Sir Wm., Gov. of 
Virga., 240 et seq. 

Grant, Major James, 160. 

Great Meadows, 112, 130. 

Greenbriar Company, 90. 

Greenbriar County, Va., 

183. 
Gyles, Jacob, 249. 

Halket, Sir Peter, 125, 

129. 
Halket, Lieut., 129. 
Halket, Major, 129. 
Hamilton, Gov. of Penna., 

99, 186. 
Hampshire Co., Va., 128. 

Hamptonstall, , 194. 

Hanbury, John, 88, 249, 

253, 258 et seq., 273. 
Hancock Co., Ohio, 187. 
Hardy, Gov. of New York, 

47> 147- 
Harrod, James, 194, 201. 

Harrodsburgh, Va., 195, 

206. 

Hart, David, 202. 

Hart, Nathl., 202. 

Hawkins, Sir John, 10. 

Heath, Sir Robert, 260. 



Henderson, Richard, 202, 

203, 204, 205. 
Hillsborough, Lord, 48, 

174, 177, 181, 276 et seq. 
Hochelaga, 10, n. 
Hogg, James, 202. 
Holden, Joseph, 190. 
Holland, Lieut., 127. 
Howe, Lord, 158. 

Illinois Country, 179. 
Indian names: 

of Chicago, Ills., 35. 
of Cleveland, Ohio, 30, 

40. 
of Detroit, 35, 57, 70, 

76. 
for Governor of Canada, 

34, 44, 114, 218. 
for Governor of New 

York, 35, 84. 
for King of England, 

114. _ 

of Sandusky, Ohio, 45. 
of Waterford, Penna., 

168. 
of Wyoming, Penna., 

.145- 
Indian Totems, 53. 
Indian Tribes: 

Aragaritkas (Hurons), 

35- 
Algonquins, 30, 50, 51. 
Alibanons, 46. 
Andastes, 30,31, y 3 , 34. 



Index. 



289 



Indian Tribes: 

Antouorons, 31 et seq. 
Arkansas, 31. 
Assistagueronons, 32. 
Canawhaga, Cockna- 

waga, 78, 84, 96. 
Capitanasses, 38. 
Carantouanons, 31. 
Catawbas, 114, 120, 135, 

138, 232. 
Cat Nation (Eries), 32, 

35- 

Cayugas, 96. 

Chachakinguas, 209. 

Chaouanons (Shawa- 
noes), 21, 33, 233. 

Chartier's Tribe, 45. 

Chaskpes, 39, 40. 

Chenundies, 96. 

Cherokees (Flatheads), 
30,31, 33,45, 59, 112, 
114, 120, 124, 135, 
138 et seq., 148, 149, 
150 et seq., 164, 192, 
202 et seq., 208 et seq., 
212, 214. 

Chickasaws, 9, 21, 30, 
33' 45> 138, 180, 205, 
208. 

Chichtaghicks, see 
Twightwees. 

Chippoways, 1 10, 166. 

Choctaws, 153. 

Connoys, 157. 

Coskinampos, 21. 
37 



Indian Tribes: 

Creeks, 138 et seq. 

Delawares, 37, /\.6etseq., 
57, 121, 141 et seq., 
147, 166, 169, 173, 
176 et seq., 184. 

Dionondadee, 51. 

Dowaganhaes (Wagan- 
haes), 71, 72. 

Eries, Eriehronons(Cat 
Nation), 33, 34, 39. 

Far Nations, 42 et seq., 
51, 55 et seq., 65, 66, 

7o, 79- 

Five (Six) Nations, Iro- 
quois, 30, 32, 34, 35, 
40 et seq., 57, 67, 70, 
72, 78, 93, 113, 117, 
121, 126, 156 et seq., 
159, 192. 

Flanakaskies, 221, 229. 

Flatheads (Cherokees), 
76, 153 et seq., 164. 

Ganastogue, 14. 

Gantastogeronons, 32. 

Gens de Feu, 32. 

Guyandots, 34. 

Hurons (Wyandots), 
33> 5 1 - 54 et seq., 63. 

Illinois, 31, 51, 52. 

Iroquois (Five Na- 
tions), 30, 32, 33, 48, 
59, 62, 75 et seq., 95, 
in, 114, 117, 146, 
210, 232. 



290 



Index. 



Indian Tribes: 
Kichtages, 52. 
Kickapous, 55, 181. 
Lenni-Lenapes (Dela- 

wares), 49, 50, 57. 
Mascoutens, 55. 
Massawomecks, $3- 
Miamis (Twightwees), 

30, 31- 33> 46, 5 1 - 55. 

84, 166, 181. 
Michilimackinacks, 84. 
Mingoes, 173. 
Minissincks, 43. 
Mississagas, 84. 
Mohawks, 33, 78, 117, 

157. 

Mohegans, 45, 226, 228. 

Monomunies, 80. 
Nanticokes, 157, 176. 
Neuter Nation, Neu- 
trals, 30, 32, ^s- 
Nez Perces, 14, 56, 219. 
Oghnagoes, 157. 
Oneidas, 121. 
Oniasont - Keronons, 

32. 
Onondagas (Onnontae- 

heronons), 34, 57. 
Onogangas, 96. 
Ontastoes (Andastes), 

219. 
Oroonducks, 84, 96. 
Ottawas, Outaouaes, 15, 

51, 62, 66, 67, 71, 

1 10. 



Indian Tribes: 

Ouabans, 39, 40. 

Ouyattanons, 53. 

Peanguichias, Piankas- 
has, Pianguichias, 
Pyankeshas, 30, 31, 
53 et seq., 180, 209. 

Pepepikokias, 209. 

Petikokias, 53. 

Poutaouatamies, Pota- 
wimmies, 15, 32, 84, 
181. 

Praying, 78. 

River, 78. 

Sapony, 221, 229, 232. 

Satanas, Sataras, 40. 

Scenondidies, 96. 

Senecas, 34, 41, 81, 96, 

121, 157, 176. 

Shawanoes, Shawanese, 
Shawnees, Showan- 
nes, Chaouanons, 14, 
2,y, et seq., 41 et seq., 
51,96, 121, 139 et seq., 
146 et seq., 153 et seq., 
163, 166, 169, 173, 
176 et seq., 182, 208 
et seq. 

Shepawees, 84. 

Shoenidies, 84. 

Susquehannah, 143. 

Taogarias, 21. 

Ten Confederate Na- 
tions, 48. 

Toagenhas, 218. 



Index. 



291 



Indian Tribes: 

Totoras, 221, 223, 226, 

228, 232. 
Twightwees (Chichtag- 

hicks, Miamis), 35, 

40, 51 ct seq., 70, 86, 

93, 112, 121, 135, 239. 
Waganhaes (Dowagan- 

haes), 51, 57. 
Wawyachtenokes, 84. 
With Straws thro' their 

Noses, 56. 
Wyandots (Hurons), 

30, 50, 86, 112. 
Indian Villages: 

ApomatacksTown, 220, 

231. 
Chartier's Old Town, 

45- 
Cherokee Towns, 273 

ct seq. 

Chicazas, 9. 

La Demoiselle, 20. 

Delaware on the Ohio, 

152. 

Diohogo, 1 76. 

Ganastogue Sonnon- 
toua, 219. 

Kuskuskies, 28. 

Neguassee, 210. 

Old Shawnee Town, 27. 

Pickawillany, 239. 

Ouadoge (Chicago), 35. 

Shahandowana (Wyo- 
ming), 145. 



Indian Villages: 

Tatera Town, 223. 

Tallico, Telliquo, 28, 
210. 

Tenassee, 210. 

Venango, 168. 
Indian Words, 1 1. 
Ingoldsby, Major, 40. 
Innes, Colonel James, 1 1 5, 

118. 
International Law, 60. 
Irondequoit, 35. 



Jackson, Ohio, 183. 
Jefferson Co., Ohio, 88. 

Jenkins, Lieut. Edward, 
167. 

Johnson, Sir William, 36, 
37,47^^,54,92,125, 
135 ct seq., 141, 143 et 
seq., 147, 156, 166, 175, 
179, 181, 194, 196, 198, 
279. 

Johnston, Wm., 202. 

Joliet, , 43, 51, 63. 

Joncaire, Chabert de, 44, 

46, 93- 
Jones, Rev. Hugh, 185. 
Joncsboro, Tcnn., 189. 



Kaskaskias, Ills., 
Keith, Charles P., 86. 



292 



Index. 



Keith, Sir Win., Gov. of 

Penna., 86. 
Kenton, Simon, 195. 
Kentucky, ^ 59> x 86 et 

seq., 191, 193, 194, 195, 

200, 206 et seq. 
Keppel, Commodore, 125. 
King, Thomas, Indian 

Chief, 48. 
Knox, John, 193. 
Knoxville, Term., 



La Demoiselle, Indian 
Chief, 46. 

La Fayette, Inda., 167, 181. 

Lake Cadaraqui (Onta- 
rio). 35- 

Lake Erie (Sweege), 12 
et seq., 52; Long Point 
in, 15; Point Pelee in, 

15- 
Lake Huron (Ottawawa), 

Lake Michigan, 37. 
Lake Oniasont, 32. 
Lake Ontario (Cadara- 
qui), 161. 
Lake Ottawawa (Huronj, 

35> 52. m 
Lake Petite, 229, 236. 
Lake Pimiteone, 236. 
Lake Sahsquage, Sweege 

or Erie, 35. 
Lancaster, Penna., 240. 



Laputhia, the Shawnee 

King, i2i. 
La Salle, Robert Cavelier 

de, 13 et seq., 39, 51, 61, 

68, 69, 217, 219, 236. 
Lee, Thomas, 88, 249, 

258. 
Le Mercier, Chevalier, 

106. 
Le Moyne, Simon, S. J., 

missionary, 12. 
Lewis, Major Andrew, 

1 39 et seq., 171, 183, 211. 
Lewis, John, 89. 
Lewisburg, Va., 183. 
Little Meadows, in. 
Livingston, Robert, 52, 70. 
Logstown, Penna., 27, 95. 
Long Hunters, 193. 
Loyal Company, 89. 
Loudon, Earl of, 211. 
Louisville, Kenty., 15, 19, 

194. 



McAfee, 



194. 



McBride, James, 187. 
Mac Carty, M. de, 180. 
McClure, Alexr., 156. 
McKee, Alexr., 182. 
McGregory, Patrick, 66, 
67. 

Macrae, , 169. 

Madison Co., Ky., 206. 
Malisit, Seneca Chief, 41. 



Index. 



293 



Manuscripts consulted: 
Amsterdam Correspon- 
dence, 12. 
New York Colonial, 43, 
57, 58, 66, 96, 99, no 
^ <r^., 131, 134, 149, 
151, 167, 198. 
New York Colonial 
(Council Minutes), 
40, 42, 46, 56, 58, 92, 

100, 102, 104 et seq., 
1 17, 122, 127, 186. 

New York Colonial (In- 
dian Treaties), 36, 81. 

New York Colonial 
(Johnson Papers), 

101, 143 et seq., 157, 
1 76 et seq., 279. 

Sparks' Collection, 16, 
29. 
Maps, consulted and re- 
ferred to: 

Anti-Gallicans, 26, 186. 

Bellin, 20, 44. 

Bolton, 25, 39. 

Champlain, 12, 31. 

Charlevoix, 35. 

Cellarius, 23. 

Coronelli, 19. 

Creuxius, 32. 

d'Anville, 25, 39, 59, 85. 

de Bry, 207. 

Delisle, 38, 59, 153, 207, 
208. 

Franquelin, 18, 40. 



Maps, consulted and re- 
ferred to: 
Gallatin, 30. 
Halley, 26. 
Hennepin, 19. 
H. O., 24, 39. 
Homans, 59. 
Huske, 26. 
Jefferys, 28. 
Jesuits, 18. 
Joliet, 17, 18, 38, 59. 
de Judaeis, 207. 
Kitchin, 45. 
Lederer, 38. 
Minet, 19. 
Mitchell, 17, 35. 
Morden, 22. 

Morden and Moll, 22,23. 
Mortier, 21. 
Mosley, 232. 
Overton, 24. 
Parkman Collection, 19, 

32, 38- 
Popple, 25, 59. 
Quadus, 207. 
Raffeix, 19. 
Raudin, 19. 

s P ra gg> 68 - 

van Keuler, 21, 39. 

Vaugordy, 20. 

Wells, 23. 

Wytfliet, 17, 207. 

Marin, M., 96. 

Marmet, Jacques, mission- 
ary, 75- 



2 9 4 



Index. 



Marshall, Captain, 92. 

Marshall, Judge, 187. 

Mauser, Casper, 193. 

Megapolensis, Rev. Jo- 
hannes, 12. 

Memphis, Tenn., 208. 

Michilimackinack, 37, 65, 
69, 177, 179. 

Minissinck Country, 56. 

Mitchell, Dr. John, 17, 59, 
230. 

Monay, John, 190. 

Monecatoocha, Chief on 
the Ohio, 121, 144. 

Montcalm, General, 161. 

Montgomery, John, 193. 

Montgomery Co., Tenn., 
190. 

Montmagny, Gov. of Can- 
ada, 218. 

Montour, Mr., 143. 

Moravians, 184. 

Morehead, Gov. of Ken- 
tucky, 202. 

Morgan Co.,Ky., 190, 201. 

Morris, Gov. of Penna., 
130, 143, 145. 

Mount Washington, 10. 

Moytoy, Chief of Chero- 
kees, 210. 



Nashville, Tenn., 208. 
Neasam, Jack, 220. 
Needham, , 236. 



Nelson, Thomas, 249. 
Nelson, William, 268. 
Newfoundland, W. Va., 

90. 
Nicaragua, 10. 
Nimmo, William, 249. 



Ohio Company, 86, 88, 
101, 240, 259, 263, 266, 

2 73- 
Okenechee Path, 220, 

231. 
Onondaga, N. Y., 15, 95, 

121. 
Oswego, N. Y. {Chouegeti), 

83, 91, 93, 127. 
Ouasioto Mts., 197. 



Pears, Richard, 112. 
Peckham, Sir George, 10. 
Peters, Richd., Secy, of 

Penna., 134. 
Pitt, Sir Wm., 158. 
Pittsburgh, Penn., 197. 
Point Pleasant, j 83, 198. 
Pontiac, Ottawa Chief, 48, 

166, 176, 177. 
Post, Christ. Fred., 160, 

173- 
Powell's Valley, 138, 186, 

193- 

Prcsqtiile, Penna., 162. 



Index. 



2 95 



Ragueneau, Pere, S. J., ^Z- 
Raleigh, N. Ca., 212. 
Randolph, Peter, 139. 
Randolph, Mr., 224. 
Raystown, Pa., 160. 
Rivers: 

Acansea Sipi, 21. 

Akansea Septentrio- 
nale, 21. 

Alabama, 39. 

Alamance Creek, 213. 

Allegany (Olighin), 25, 
30, 31, 50, 61, 168, 
169, 249, 254, 267. 

Alliwegi Sipi, 13. 

Apalachicola, 39, 59. 

Arkansas (Basire), 18, 

Atigue (French Creek), 

44, 163. 
Aux Boeufs (French 

Creek), 26, 146 
Aux Cannes, 163. 
Basire (Arkansas), 18, 

38. 
Bear Grass Creek, 195. 
Beaver Creek, 27, 169. 
Belle Riviere (Ohio), 

18, 21, 23, 25, 155, 

159' l6 3- . 
Big Bone Lick, 194. 

Big Hockhocking, 183. 

Black Creek, 209. 

Boone's Creek, 189. 



Rivers: 

Buffalo's Creek, 249, 

254, 267. 
Bushy Run, 170, 1 72. 
Cabin Creek, 195. 
Cane Creek, 163. 
Casqui, Kasqui, 9, 210. 
Chaboussioua, 20. 
Cherakee, Cherokee 

(Tennessee), 20, 25, 

37 > 46, 49- 
Chiningue, Skenango, 

Chenango, 20, 27. 
Choto (Holston), 115. 
Choucagoua (Ohio), 19, 

61. 
Clinch, 138, 193, 200. 
Cosquinambaux, 21, 59. 
Cumberland, 30, 31, 

138, 186, 190, 202, 

204 et sea. 
Cusates, Cusatzes, 9, 59, 

210. 
Delaware, 32, 49. 
Duck, 205. 
Elk Creek, 163. 
Elkhorn, 187, 194. 
Elk River, 206. 
Euphasee, 28. 
French Creek (Atigue, 

Aux Boeufs), 26, 44, 

85, 152, 162, 167,168. 
French Lick, 208. 
Ganahooche, 59. 



296 



Index. 



Rivers: 

Green Brier, 90, 116, 

197, 265, 272. 
Haw, 213. 
Hiawassee, 210. 
Hickman Creek, 194. 
Hogohegee, 24, 26, 28, 

39- 
Holston (Choto), 28, 

59, 114, 116, 128, 137, 

140, 202, 205, 212 et 

seq., 240. 
Illinois, 18, 25, 145, 146, 

164, 174, 178, 237. 
Jessamine, 194. 
Johnston, 232. 
Juniata, 176. 
Kanawha, Great Ken- 

awha, Big Conhaway, 

17, 25, 26, 28,49, l66 > 

183, 197 et seq., 235, 

265, 270, 272. 
Kanantaguat, 217. 
Kaskaskias, 1 78. 
Kentucky, 187, 190, 193, 

202, 204. 
Keowee, 205. 
Kiskiminitas, Kiskomi- 

nettoe Creek, 160, 

265, 270, 272. 
Licking, 201. 
Loyalhannon, 170. 
Maumee, 31, 51. 
Miami, 28, 31, ^7, 270. 
Mic, 74. 



Rivers: 

Monongfahela, Mohon- 

galy, 25, 26, 31, 50, 

94, 98, 106, 109, 1 16, 

195, 265, 270, 272. 
Muskingum, 10, 50, 163, 

172, 184. 
New, 137, 197, 235, 270. 
Nolichuky, 215. 
Occabacke, 74. 
Ohio, first heard of, 13; 

name on first map, 1 7; 

names of, 19. 
Oiapigaming, 19. 
Oil Creek, 12. 
Olighin (Allegany), 61. 
Old Chaouanon, 25. 
Ouespere, 209. 
Ouabache (Wabash), 

26, 74, 155, 209. 
Ouabouskigon, 1 7. 
Pedee, 39, 232. 
Pelesipi, 25, 26. 
Powell's, 138. 
Red, 190. 

Red Stone Creek, no. 
Roanoke, 220, 223, 232. 
Romanettos Creek, 

249, 254, 265, 267, 

270, 272. 
Rorenock, 38. 
Sabsquigs, 22. 
St. Jerome (Wabash), 

20, 25. 
St. Joseph, 167. 



Index. 



297 



Rivers: 

St. Louis, 61. 
Salmon, 36, 69. 
Salt, 24. 

Sandy Creek, 140. 
Sapony, 222, 232. 
Savannah, 59, 205. 
Sciota, Chianotho, Si- 

koder, Sonioto, 27, 

39, 45, 47 et scq., 54 

et seq., in, 153. 
Shawan, 38. 
Shenango, Chiningue, 

27. 
Shurtees Creek, 265 et 

seq., 270. 
Staunton, 232. 
Stoner's Creek, 201. 
Susquehannah, 10, 31, 

49. 
Tanassee ] 28, 30, 31, 
V205, 210 ct 
Tenessee ) seq. 
Tugels, 205. 
Turtle Creek, 149. 
Watauga, 189, 202, 212. 
White Woman's Creek, 

20, 163. 
Will's Creek, 101, 103, 

115 ct seq., 269. 
Wisconsin, 18. 
Wood River, 232, 239, 

270. 
Yadkin, 189 ct seq. 
Yauyaugain, 269. 
38 



Rivers: 

Yellow Creek, 249, 267. 
Robertson, James, 213 et 

seq. 
Robertson Co., Tenn., 190. 
Roseboom, Captain, 66. 
Rowan, Prest. of N. Ca., 

Rutherford, John, 128. 



St. A sap lis, 206. 

St. Clair, Arthur, 182. 

St. Clair, Sir John, 129, 

130. 
Salt Licks, Ohio, 183. 
Sandusky, Ohio, 45, 167. 
Sargent, John, 197. 
Scaroyady, the Half King, 

94, 121 et seq., 142. 
Schuyler, Abrm., 58. 
Schuyler, Arent, 40. 
Schuyler, David, 57. 
Schuyler, Peter, 35, 58. 
Scruniyattha, the Half 

King, in. 
Sharpe, Gov. of Maryland, 

115- !3Q. 
Sharpe, W., 266. 
Shazuangiinck Mts., Ulster 

Co.,N. V., 37 . 
Shinoriss Shinto, Indian 

Chief, 50, 142. 
Smith, Captain John, of 

Vir g a -> 33> 231. 



2 9 8 



Index. 



Smith, Samuel, 273. 
Smith, William, 22. 
Smyth, Dr. O. F. D., 203. 
Spearing, Lieut, 129. 
Spotswood, Gov. of Va., 

74. 238. 
Staggs, Colonel, 228. 
Stanwix, Colonel John, 

150. 
Stephens, Colonel Adam, 

171. 
Stewart, John, 190, 192. 
Stoner, Michael, 200 et 

seq. 
Sunbury, Penna., 169. 



Talon, Intendant of Can- 
ada, 64. 

Taylor, , 194. 

Taylor, Handcock, 194. 

Thornton, Wm., 249. 

Tonty, Henry, 41, 51. 

Townshend, Charles, 93. 

Transylvania, Colony of, 
206. 

Transylvania, Common- 
wealth of, 204 et seq. 

Transylvania Company, 
202. 

Treaties: 

with Indians, in 1701, 

.35. 36. 
with Indians, in 1726, 

36. 



Treaties: 

with Indians, at Ft. 
Stanwix, N. Y,, 174, 
192, 197. 

with Indians, at Lancas- 
ter, Pa., 47, 53, 82, 

/5 6 > 2 53- 
with Indians, at Locha- 

ber, S. Ca., 192. 

of Paris, 165, 178, 278. 

of Utrecht, 72, 76, 80, 

82, 238. _ 

Trent, Captain, 97, 103. 

Trois Rivieres, Canada, 

63. 
Tryon, Governor of N. Y., 

198. 

Tuttrel, John, 202. 



van Corlear, Arent, 35, 41. 
Vandalia, Colony of, 174, 

177- 
Venango, Pa., 20, 85, no. 

Vincennes, M., 180. 



Waldens Mountain, 193. 
Walker, Thomas, 89, 137, 

138, 186. 
Walpole Company, 89. 
Walpole's Grant, 1 74. 
Walpole, Horace, 118. 
Walpole, Thomas, 1 74, 

197, 277. 



Index. 



299 



Walsingham, Sir Francis, 

10. 
Ward, Ensign, 106, 109. 
Warner, Charles Dudley, 

22. 
Washington, Augustin, 

88, 249. 
Washington, George, 88, 

103, 109, 1 11 et seq., 122, 

141, 151, 159, 168, 263. 
Washington, Lawrence, 

88, 249. 
Waterford, Penna., 168. 
Weiser, Conrad, 117. 
Western Reserve, Ohio, 54. 



Wharton, Samuel, 197. 

Whitley, Wm., 195. 

Williams, John, 202. 

Williams, Margaret, 156. 

Winchester, Va., 114, 122. 

Winsor, Justin, 16. 

Wolfe, General, 158. 

Wood, Colonel or Gen- 
eral, 16, 74, 207, 220 et 
seq., 235 et seq. 

Wood, Doctor, 195. 

Woods, Thomas, 220, 230. 

Woodrop, W a r d r o p , 
James, 249, 273. 



Jl?e 01710 Valley 



\T) <?olopial Days. 



BY 

BERTHOLD FERNOW. 



JOSL MUHSGLVS SONS, 

FUBUSHSRS, 

Albany, N. Y. 



BH9 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



014 750 998 4 % 




